


And you know, we're on each other's team

by Circa1353



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Discussion of Abortion, Drug Use, Episode: s06e07 Who Got Dee Pregnant?, Episode: s06e10 Charlie Kelly: King Of The Rats, Episode: s06e11 The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods, Episode: s06e12 Dee Gives Birth, F/M, Falling In Love, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Pregnancy complications, Secret Relationship, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:02:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 42,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25557040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circa1353/pseuds/Circa1353
Summary: It’s Charlie.She was pregnant with Charlie Kelly’s baby.Goddamnit.
Relationships: Charlie Kelly/Dee Reynolds, Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds (backround)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> lorde album binge listening headassery afoot

2:00 am  
On A Wednesday  
Philadelphia, PA

Uh Oh.

Something was definitely wrong.

At first, while Deandra Reynolds laid in a subconscious state, her brain connected the feeling in the pit of her stomach to too much beer from the previous night. But the nausea grew, and soon she was fully awoken by an involuntary gag. She quickly yanked her hand from under the covers and threw it over her mouth, attempting to keep whatever was going to come out in. As she sat up she was hit with another pang of nausea and couldn't gain control over her insides in time, resulting in her to throw up in her own hand, which quickly seeped out as she gaged once more and got even sicker.

It was needless to say, Sweet Dee was absolutely pissed.

She had just made the bed with her spring sheets that were all light and airy and her comforter that could only be described by her as a cloud, and soft feather pillows (Dee didn't tell Frank she had ‘borrowed’ some of his money for them if she heard one more bird joke she was going to lose it.) And despite the only four consistent people in her life always destroying everything she owned, she had managed to keep it relatively intact in the last couple of months. So understandably she was distraught that the comfiest thing she owned and herself was covered in stomach acid, beer, and the Philly cheesesteak she had for a late dinner.

Gross.

Dee begrudgingly pushed the vomit-covered sheets off her body and slipped out of her bed and into the adjoining bathroom. Dee could feel the wet pieces of her hair stuck to her neck and face, and the pungent smell of her sick lingered in the air. Her skin was beginning to burn, to be fair it's not normally recommended to have something with an acidic ph all over you. 

Dee stood in her bathroom for a minute, she felt a wave of nausea and vertigo hit her all at once as she tried to hold onto the counter of her sink to balance herself. For a moment she swayed like she was seasick as the world was spinning around her, attempting to keep herself from collapsing on her tile floor.

“What the fuck!” Dee thought aloud, the feeling not subsiding.

Dee felt her knees grow weak and all she wanted to do was go back to bed. She considered for a moment just saying ‘fuck it’ and going back to sleep- vomit and all. But she soon threw that idea out the window when she remembered her stomach acid was slowly chemically burning her skin and opted for a warm shower on her side in the tub. 

She felt her dizziness elevate and while she still felt like absolute shit, she reached out and used the wall to make it over to the shower. She was able to step into the bath while holding probably too strongly on her cheap towel rack. She immediately sunk into the tub, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm her now churning guts. She knew this wasn't good and something was probably extremely wrong but before she could have another coherent thought, she felt something hot rush up to her neck and soon puked again, spitting it upon herself. She quickly turned on her side heaving again but no longer on her person. Dee was pissed, whatever was causing this sudden onslaught of puke was not welcomed. She lied there for a minute lifeless, letting her entire body go limp and breathing in and out. She needed to get a grip, she still had to wash herself, her pajamas, her sheets, comforter, pillowcases, and probably pillows as well. Dee sat up and scooted to the tubs faucet, pulling up the plug that turns the bath into a shower. She turned the hot water up before lying back down flat on her back, letting the cold-turning-warm water run over her. The shower head was angled straight at her stomach and most of the barf was slowly washing it off her and her clothes. 

Dee slowly rose into a sitting position, and she reached for one of the glass sliding door handles. This allowed her to pull herself up with one arm and push off the side of the tub up. Her thin legs bending up so they were closer to her chest so she could curl into them for support. For a while she held herself there, letting the shower water run over her completely. 

She had no idea what was wrong with her and while she wouldn’t admit this to anyone else, she was terrified. She didn’t know what could have caused this abrupt and disgusting experience. 

She had figured that getting out and throwing everything in the wash was her best bet. Carefully she stripped from her cleaner but not clean pajamas, and stepping out onto her cold tile floor. Dee decided they were good enough and left them in a wet heap. An involuntary sigh came out of her and she soon exited her bathroom.

Stripping down the bed while still feeling woozy, having just thrown up, soaking wet and butt ass naked probably wasn’t the best of Dee’s ideas, but she made due. But soon she ran into a problem she had seemingly forgotten, her apartment didn’t have a washer and dryer. She had to go down two flights of stairs just to get to the basement of her apartment, and it smelled horrible down there. Dee knew if she even tried to go down the stairs in her current circumstance, she would most likely slip on the first step and break her neck or something, on the way down.

“I don’t have time for this shit” Dee mumbled to herself while waddling into the bathroom with a big ball of all her dirty laundry. 

Dee approached the tub and threw all of them in, smushing them against the already wet bottom of the tub. She leaned over the side and the track of the glass door to plug the tub. For a moment she had to pull away from her mediocre washing solution and take a deep breath of her bathroom's cheaply air freshener air, the stench of her sick threatening to make her do it all over again. After calming the tingling sensation in her stomach and her teeth she managed to return to filling the tub. She turned the water on and squeezed some cheap shampoo to have some semblance of detergent. She pushed them all under the water and moved them apart a bit, but quickly retracted her hand at the sight of her vomit floating out of the laundry. She stood slowly, hoping she wouldn’t trigger that dizzy spell she had earlier, then washed her hands, put her wet hair in a half-assed ponytail, and swished mouthwash in an attempt to get the vomit taste in her mouth to go away.

(It didn’t, now she just tasted minty vomit.)

Dee shuffled out of the bathroom, switching her moisture fan on to hopefully remove even more of the stench and steam that had been accumulating over the entire night. She scanned the floor, looking at some of the dirty clothes she had failed to even put in her probably too full hamper. She didn't think she had it in her to find a new set of clean pajamas and decided to just choose one of the discarded clothes. Scavenging, she found an oversized tee that had seemed relatively comfortable along with some pink panties that seemed clean enough to wear for another night.

She crawled onto her mattress, the only things remaining were her mattress pad and her pillows (which she was very happy they were barf free). Dee didn’t think she would be physically get up and go get a blanket without passing out and opted to curl into herself, and quite soon fall asleep. 

☼

Dee woke up to her phone buzzing on her side table, rattling against the wood. The pungent smell remained, while significantly better, the vomit stench never really goes away until thoroughly cleaned. Dee learned that when stealing some of her mom's scotch only to throw up on her carpet and cleaning your alcohol-induced puke was not easy in scoliosis back brace.

She shuttered, turning her attention to waking up so she could repress her highschool memories again.

Dennis: where r u!?!?!

Dee rolled her eyes, if it wasn't for her headache and parchedness she would have texted back something angry and dragged herself to the bar. But she didn't think she had it in her, especially not right then. She was surprised she still felt horrible, hell she had been waterboarded in a urinal and that was more peasant then the buzzing of all of her nerves and the ache in her stomach. She squinted at the lit-up screen, it hurt her eyes. 

Dee: sick. need day off

Dennis: dee u bitch

“God.” Dee groaned out loud, her brother was always an insensitive asshole so she wasn't too surprised he didn't care about her wellbeing. She weighed the events of last night and what she should do next. Dee didn't think she had ever been that ill, her throat was still raw for wrenching up her stomach contents. Looking into the bathroom reminded her she still had an abundance of cleaning to do, and she wasn't sure if she’d be able to do it.

It wasn't common for Dee to get sick, Charlie told her it was because she had scoliosis she traded having a fixable but very painful disability, for not being sick. She decided not to dwell on the logistics of those claims and to figure out what she was going to do with herself.

Dee: rlly sick idk what 2 do

Dennis: come 2 the bar you r L8! >:(

Dee wondered what it was like to be part of a caring family, she's sure if her brother was raised by an actual good parent over her narcissistic projecting mother, he might have actually helped her, but their upbringing prohibited it. Besides, when had Dennis ever been considered reliable? 

Dee: srsly 

Dennis: dont care!!! come 2 the bar!!!

Yeah, no way in hell was she going to go to the bar- especially not in her current state.

She tried to think of every person who could potentially come to help her, and it was not a lot. Frank could drive but Dee doubted that he would be willing or sober enough to do so. Dennis was a bastard man, and Mac never seemed to do anything without his approval so they both weren’t going to. That left Charlie, she thought he probably would but she didn’t even know if he could drive, the man can't read so she’d assume he was also a no too. The only other person Dee would put into the realm of possibility was Artemis, her only actual friend if you could even call her that. She sat slumped over in her bed thinking over her lowly selection.

Artemis was probably her best bet.

Dee fumbled with her phone as she clicked through her long list of contacts, most of them being past hookups or exes. After a way too long list of random guys with A names (probably people she had only got it on with once) she found Artemis’s contact and quickly pressed the dial. Dee nervously fiddled with the end of the dirty nightshirt in an attempt to try to keep her mind from spiraling and panicking. She couldn’t let herself dwell on the implications of being that sick and having the shittiest health insurance someone with insurance could have, she knew if she even started thinking harder she would have a full-blown panic attack. She held the phone to her ear and the telltale ringing sounds filled the silence. She really hoped Artemis would pick up and wasn’t in some dumpster having sex with frank or something.

“Yes, Deandra?” Artemis’s tired and slightly annoyed voice crackled over the line. Dee huffed a sigh of relief.

“Artemis?” She croaked in a hoarse voice.

“Ew, my dear, you sound disgusting.” Artemis gasped, Dee couldn’t tell if she was saying that out of genuine concern or not, but Artemis was a half-decent actor, so Dee knew it would be wasting time trying to decipher it.

“I got sick.” She paused, bringing her long skinny fingers to her neck and lightly rubbing the part of her pained trachea she could feel through her skin. “I think I need to go to the doctor.”

“Oh,” Artemis said blankly, “Well then why are you calling me?” 

While Artemis was a good actor and unapologetically herself, all things Dee admired (but, of course, would never say out loud) she was not the sharpest tool in the shed and could be quite the bitch. She took a deep breath, letting the vomit stench that hung over her apartment in and out.

“I need you to give me a ride,” Dee responded, trying to sound as collected as possible.

“Deandra, do I look like a taxi service?” She retorted, sounding more annoyed than before.

“Oh give me a break,” Dee mumbled quiet enough she was sure her shitty phone would have been able to pick it up. “Please?” she felt the sting of tears come to her eyes, sure she had felt desperate before but this felt different, Dee knew this wasn’t something she’d be able to just brush off. For once she didn’t think she would be able to handle whatever this was on her own.

“You’re going to beg me?” Her dramatic voice questioned.

“Yes.”

“Ughhh….” the line fell silent, “Fine but this better be more entertaining than getting high and masturbating in my living room.”

☼

Artemis’s car careened onto her sidewalk, the tire resting completely over the curb and stopped with a jolt, signifying that she slammed on the brakes abruptly. Dee watched the car from her bedroom open window, dressed in somewhat more socially acceptable clothes, a thin cotton v neck, and a pair of loose elastic waistband shorts. The cool November air lightly pushing her loose hairs back against her scalp in a gust of wind. For a minute in all of this, she felt a little at ease, well until-

“Deandra!” Artemis screeched from her passenger side window, her whole upper body leaning over her center conceal. “Get your ass down here if you want your ride!”

Dee waved to her through the open window, not in a friendly way, more of an “I see you don’t yell at me I’m coming’ kind of way. She closed her window and scooped up her phone off the nightstand and walked into her living room, still in moderate discomfort. She needed her wallet which she found haphazardly thrown on her kitchen table, her keys which were hanging on the tiny key handle next to the door that she bought during the period of time she was addicted to crack; and last but not least her slip-on flip flops, the comfiest shoes she owned. Dee then left her apartment as fast as possible, determined to not lose her ride. 

Soon, Dee burst through her apartment buildings glass doors to see Artemis’s car still in the horrible position it was in when it pulled up. As she approached the sound of Artemis repeatedly trying to light a lighter, it would spark against her hitchhiker's thumb but cease to produce a flame. A somewhat burnt cigarette sat in her mouth and over where the flame of the lighter would have been.

She opened the car door, Artemis jumping at the sound.

“Jesus Dee, couldn’t you have knocked?” 

Dee decided to ignore her statement and sat at an angle in the car. As she shut the door and turned to her driver she was hit with the pungent smell of marijuana, and Artemis was looking at her with half-closed red eyes.

“Oh my god,” Artemis says looking over Dee from head to toe “Why do you look like that?”

She fought back the urge to be a bitch back, but she knew if she pissed Artemis off she could very well be physically kicked to the curb. So she just decided to ask one of the glaringly obvious questions:

“Did you have to get high before this?”

“Yes, Dean-drah” Artemis replied, putting unnecessary and awkward emphasis on her name in an attempt to sass her.

She knew she had more fight in her and could feel her stomach ache in pain, so she decided to let it go.

“Whatever, can you drive me to the ER?” 

“Aren’t those for emergencies?” 

Oh my fucking god. “I’m having an emergency!” Dee shrilled, god what was with everyone not thinking she's really sick?

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry I’ll take you…” Artemis seemingly bowed down, probably because she was too high to be genuinely angry, but Dee appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

Artemis threw her car into drive and hastily drove off the curb, dodging cars parked on the side of the road on her way out onto the city's roads. Dee closed her eyes and leaned against the car's window frame, letting the open window blow soft gusts of wind into the car as she felt the warmth of the sun on her face. Artemis was humming along to some tune she had playing, clearly content with driving if Dee just let her be. While Dee didn’t have many actual friends, she did find herself enjoying spending time around Artemis, she was lively and bold which always proved for ample entertainment. Dee wouldn’t tell anyone this either, but in those moments where Frank and Artemis show intimacy in front of Dee, she would feel a sense of joy warm her chest. Yeah, Frank wasn’t the best dad, or husband, or boss, but deep down she still loved him, and she wanted him to be happy with someone. Of course, it was a bonus, it was actually someone Dee could stand, and not someone who would step all over the gang's toes. 

The traffic was light, not much was happening at ten on a Wednesday. She turned a little bit over to her driving companion.

“Hey..” Dee started reluctantly, Artemis’s eyes were on the road but she could feel her attention, “Thanks for doing this for me”

Dee watched as she raised an eyebrow slightly before relaxing her face once more, “That’s what friends are for,”

She tried to ignore the blooming feeling in her chest after Artemis called her a friend, she didn’t like how fast she became so soft from the offhand remark.

“But I am expecting this to be something at least mildly entertaining or I’m never going to drive you anywhere ever again!” Artemis rambled, the THC poking and prodding at her neurotransmitters.

Dee just responded with an approving smile and Artemis seemed content with that. So the two continued to listen to the light words on the radio and sit in silence.

The ride gave her ample time to think, she hadn’t had a lot of time to actually do that during the past eight hours. She wondered if she was dying, she’d never been that sick over seemingly nothing before, so of course, with her dramatic tendencies, it was natural for her to progress to death. Dee has had her fair share of hangovers, green outs, and puke horror stories to last her a lifetime, but this wasn’t like any of those. This time she didn’t have any time to prepare, nausea took her off guard while her defenses were down, and she didn’t like that shit at all. She carefully began combing through her spotty memory for any indication of what could have caused such a versatile and abrupt onset of illness. 

But, Dee was only human, and soon analyzing the past week of her pathetic and depressing life became very boring very quickly. Her mind began to wonder.

She wondered what the gang was up to, Dennis was probably having a hissy fit about her absence, Mac would be mad if Dennis was, so the two of them were probably knee-deep in shit-talking her. She doubted that Frank cares much and probably didn’t even notice she was gone. But when she came to Charlie, she felt a part of her hope he missed her or was worried. Now, Dee never was a touchy-feely type of person- that type of vulnerability usually caused her copious amounts of problems: but it was almost different with Charlie. They are both the easiest for the gang to pick on and tended to be the most desperate for affection. She and Charlie have always had something different then what the whole gang had going on, they could find refuge in each other on the occasion the degrading became too much. But those moments of solace were rare, after long build-ups of pressure and verbal abuse, they cultivated in the moments that the gang cut too deep, went too far. And in those moments where it was just her and Charlie, she found her mind going back to them a lot, even when she didn’t want it too. Those moments with him, in their entirety, even the awkward and uncomfortable, were Dee’s most beloved moments. Just him and her, hardly any walls to hold up, not that either of them expected those walls to come down but didn’t fight it when they did. Charlie was a ray of sunshine in her dingy, depressing, dive bar life.

Dee would be lying if she said she never thought about it. About being more then, whatever she was, to Charlie. She had even kicked the idea of dating around when she was high off the whippets he gave her; dating Charlie Kelly. Of course, when she came off her high she pushed the idea deep down inside of her and hoped the embarrassing thoughts would never resurface. As she danced in the limbo of her mind, staring into space on the ride to the doctor, the idea returned. Dee first tried to ignore it, but she had already started thinking about him, and that opened the floodgates. She could hear his laugh, his sigh. She could see his lopsided smile and the way he giggled watching trash television with her in the early morning, still intoxicated off their asses. She could smell his sweat as things escalated, doing things the both of them normally wouldn’t even consider doing to each other around other people. Dee had to admit, she liked the secret dynamic they hold, the attention, the comfort, the affection, the sex, she liked the intimacy she shared with him- that she never experienced with anyone else. It was their thing to retreat into when no one else was watching. 

For Dee to say she loved him would be going a bit too far, she didn’t even think she had the capacity to love someone, other than herself. Her whole life love for others always led to pain, and she had gone through so much of it she assumed the ability had been drained out of her for some defense mechanism. But Dee did care very deeply for Charlie, so deeply in fact, it scared her. She had never felt that kind of worry for anyone, not even Dennis. There would be times she’d have to fight the urge to observe his bumps and bruises from his Charlie work, to give him a painkiller and some water, to tell him to go take a nap or make him something to eat. She absolutely hated it. She hated how it made her insides squirm by just looking at his dirty, battered, and bruised face. She hated how domestic her feelings were. She hated that anyone could make her feel that weak by just existing. She absolutely fucking hated it.

She had gone so far into her thoughts, she didn’t notice the car came to a stop. 

“Were here Dee,” Artemis said.

“Will you wait for me out here?” Dee asked feeling embarrassed that she was going to have to whine and beg for a ride home.

“You’re lucky I have another joint if I could get my damn lighter to work…” Artemis trailed off, looking over her person and around the car for it.

Dee fought back the need to roll her eyes, and allowed her and wordlessly walked from the car, actually parked mediocrity in a spot. The ER was connected to a much bigger hospital and had various wards. When the two reached the building, the sliding glass doors opened and they walked directly into the waiting room. Surprisingly, it was relatively calm, despite Philly being abundant with violent crime. 

Dee approached the counter with caution, her insides churning out of nervousness, and because she still felt sick. The nurse at the desk smiled at her, easing her nerves a bit.

“Hi ma’am, how can I help you?” She asked in a tired yet cheerful tone. 

“Hi,” Dee said, suddenly feeling very shy. “I-uh I got really sick last night and think I might need to be checked out by a doctor or something?” 

The nurse began gathering papers and a cheap plastic clipboard. She nodded her head to signify she was listening as she stacked all the papers neatly together and put them on the clipboard. “Okay, Miss…”

“Reynolds, Dee Reynolds.” 

“Miss Reynolds, I’m going to need you to fill out your insurance information, date of birth, symptoms, all that sort of thing in the spaces provided,” She reached for a pen, “And please be as thorough as possible, it will make it easier and faster if the doctors can evaluate everything from the get-go.” 

Dee nodded along, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. 

“Do you have your insurance card with you Miss Reynolds?” the nurse asked, writing something on the top of the stack of Dee’s papers.

“Uh- yeah- yes.” Dee fumbled with her wallet, pulling out her insurance card and ID, placing them onto the counter for the nurse to look over. 

“Alright, you’re all set. Come up when you are done with your paperwork and we will call you back when we are ready for you!” 

Dee gave her a queasy smile and collected her necessary items from the counter, retreating back to the grey and green She sat down next to her and began to look over the paper, filling out the things she could think of quickly. She wanted to get this whole endeavor over as soon as possible and get them to give her drugs. Hospitals always made Dee nervous, the fear stemmed from the countless hospital trips she took while fixing her scoliosis. It was always too cold and she was always alone. She had a hard time trying to recount all of the events leading up to her hospital visit, all of it felt like a drunken haze. She filled her symptoms out to the best of her current ability.

Eventually, Dee finished the paperwork and approached the front desk to turn it in. The nurse smiled at her as she talked on the phone with what she was assuming was a patient of some kind. She returned to her seat, waiting impatiently as a few of the other people were called back. To occupy the time and to soothe her ever-increasing anxiety she picked her nails, chipping away at them with her other nail until they gave and she could rip the end edges of them off. Small amounts of blood collected at the sides of the fingers when she had torn too hard, but Dee just continued going nail to nail out of sheer nervousness during her wait.

“Dee, Reynolds?” A tall broad shoulder man called into the waiting room. Dee practically jumped up, scrambling to get a hold of all of her stuff.

Well, she thought as she walked up to the man, here goes nothing.

☼

“Miss Reynolds, are you aware you are three weeks pregnant?”

Oh shit.

☼

Dee didn’t even realize she was crying until she felt the cold outside air hit her face and her tears chilled against her cheeks. 

God, she was so fucked. 

Apparently, she had something called Hyperemesis gravidarum, because of her insecure highschool self with on and off again anorexia due to her astronomically low self-esteem and never being knocked up before, she practically doubled her chances for one of the rarest pregnancy complications a woman could have. The doctor had given her strict instructions on what she needed to do to ensure she could alleviate the symptoms. She had given her a prescription for a medication called Pyridoxine, along with telling her she needed to stay as hydrated as possible, to eat bland foods. The symptoms could be aggravated by hunger, fatigue, and iron forward prenatal vitamins, so she was told to steer clear. 

The doctor had also given her a card for a doctor she recommended Dee visited, as she could tell her pregnancy was not welcome news. Dee looked at the card, Dr. Vivian Huang was written in bold letters along with her contact information. She worked at Planned Parenthood in northwest Philadelphia. The doctor told her that she could get a check-up at planned parenthood for free, especially if she went to a sympathetic Huang and showed she had horrible health insurance. 

She walked down the sidewalk, tucking her arms together and trying to force herself to stop crying. The hot tears would trail down her face and dry cold and salty. What had she gotten herself into? Dee could hear the humming of Artemis’s car in the desolate air. How ironic, the only time Philly was quiet was the one time she wanted something to drown out her thoughts. Was this some punishment of some kind? She sure had a lot to be punished for. Or was it a punishment for the baby? To have someone like her be its mom?

“Deandra!” A voice screeched, breaking Dee out of her spiral of thoughts. She turned to see she had nearly walked past Artemis, who was sitting fairly unhappily in her car. “Are you kidding me?” 

Dee couldn't even react, she could tell Artemis was fairly pissed off, but she had bigger issues then a high, angry, Jewish, woman who was trying to be intimidating. She didn’t have the energy to bite back with a sassy remark. She opened the car door, plopping her tired body into the passenger seat. Artemis began to yell as she reached over to put her seatbelt on, trying to avoid her companion’s eyes. When she reluctantly turned forward, Artemis could see her red, puffy, tear-streaked face. She tried to keep each hiccup and tear in in an attempt Dee gritted her teeth preparing for whatever oncoming question she had, she felt on the verge of tears, trying her hardest to keep it all in.

“What’s wrong with you?”

And that was her tipping point.

She let out a choked sob, tears rolling down her cheeks as she covered her face in shame. Dee hated having someone see her in this state, completely vulnerable, completely lost, completely terrified. Dee didn’t like how she could feel Artemis’s eyes on her and turned to the window, her hands still over her face. She felt her nose start to get congested, she was crying so hard she was going to have a runny nose like a five-year-old. She didn’t really know exactly why she was crying, maybe it was out of shame, or fear or just being so overwhelmed at once. 

She felt Artemis’s hand on her back, she slowly rubbed in a circle trying to provide some comfort, “Deandra what’s wrong?” She asked in an uncharacteristically gentle voice, cautiously trying to not make Dee’s breakdown ever worse.

Dee didn’t think she could even say it, bring herself to say what she had been told not even thirty minutes ago. She felt like her mind was racing a mile a minute, her body cowering into itself in fear and ears buzzing just enough to make her even more irate. She needed to ask herself what she wanted. But what did she want? Would she even be able to care for a baby? Did she even want to have a baby?

But she didn’t not want a baby either.

“Seriously? What’s going on?” Artemis’s voice was coated by a poorly masked fear. She was trying to seem nonchalant about Dee leaving the ER crying, after being violently ill the night before.

“I-I...” She took a deep breath, managing to calm down her tears enough, “I'm pregnant.”

This shocking revelation was followed by silence by both, save for Dee’s increasingly softer deep breaths. The two stayed for that for a while, both women retreating inside their mind in an attempt to process the bombshell of information that was the unplanned pregnancy. It is not something she would have expected, planned for, or even thought about. She needed some time to recover from a sense of whiplash — she was moving in one direction only to be suddenly and abruptly turned around.

“Do you know who the father is?” Artemis asked, opting not to sugarcoat it and get the question out in the air. 

If it had been any other time before last month, Dee would have probably said no. She was always aloof when it came to men, not liking to have to be tethered to long term, commitment filled, relationship. But the month of October showed an abnormal pattern for her, she had been consistently hooking up with the same person; and no one else.

She didn’t have to figure out who that father was, she was three weeks pregnant and three weeks ago they had that god damn Halloween party.

It’s Charlie.

She was pregnant with Charlie Kelly’s baby.

Goddamnit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dee tells charlie and the two of them go to planned parenthood

6:15 am  
On A Thursday  
Philadelphia, PA

Dee had not gotten any sleep.

She couldn’t fight the sun. She’d only be able to watch helplessly as it dragged her into the next day. Dark bags sat under her eyes. The whole night consisted of Dee getting worked up, going for a drink, and then putting it down, then going for a cigarette and putting that down too, then the cycle would repeat. She did that all night, trying to come up with some semblance of a game plan.

What was she going to do?

She was kicking around the idea of not telling anyone, keeping it to herself, and going to the planned parenthood alone. If she did she was sure if she decided to get an abortion she could do it completely privately, only her, the doctor, and most likely Artemis would be the only ones in the know. 

But she knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Dee didn’t know a lot about pregnancy, she always had a small pool of her inner circle filled with mostly men, consisting of her brother, a hypermasculine closeted gay man, and an illiterate. She wasn’t known for fraternizing with the same sex, but she did remember an acquaintance in college who had gotten pregnant a couple of months into the second trimester at the age of 18. For Dee and most of the other girls, it was gossip to pass around and mock her. And it was relatively easy for them to kick her when she was already down, and for a while Dee didn’t see an issue with it, rationalizing it to ignore any possible guilt. But one night Dee went out to smoke a cigarette, a new behavior at the time. While walking out of the girl’s dormitory she ran into the pregnant teenager, sobbing outside of the building. Dee yelled some shocked profanity at her, startled by anyone else being outside the dorms at this time of night. The girl apologized quickly and attempted to get away without showing Dee her puffy, red, streaked face. It didn’t work. Dee didn’t think anyone could look that bad from just crying. Although she also didn’t even cry, she learned fairly quickly in the Reynolds household that it was a one-way ticket to being relentlessly mocked by her mother and brother alike- Frank opting to get drunk and ignore all of them. The girl had also seemed to have been nervously picking at her lip, torn pieces of her lip skin were dry and pooled with blood, her eyes were completely bloodshot and her eyelashes were completely drenched in salty tears. Pathetic, Dee remembered thinking. She shuffled back to the door, opening it quickly and walked in, soft sobs returning when she thought she was far enough inside to be out of earshot. The next day she found out that the pregnant girl was no longer pregnant, she had an abortion. That moment always stood out to Dee, she had seen someone immediately after a life-altering decision, and the subsequent feelings that came after. She never knew what became of that girl, but the scene of her tearful face never seemed to fade, and every year or two she would get it back in vivid memory, usually when she was high on any stimulant, and every time she would feel almost a sort of remorse for not at least offering the girl something of a comfort.

Abortion was a big decision. If she was going to pick the right thing for her she needed to get a grip on all her options.

She needed to go to the appointment. But.. she didn’t want to go alone. Dee hated to admit it but she was the most scared she had even been. And she had been held captive by the McPoyles, tricked into thinking she was a cannibal and had an actual heart attack. She felt somewhat pathetic for letting something like a pregnancy petrify her, but at the same time couldn’t shake the horrible feeling of complete anxiety-ridden cluelessness. She knew this was something she would not be able to handle alone. But Dee was conflicted by the idea of asking another person to come with her, she had already dragged Artemis into this, and she was not someone who needed to know. If she was going to bring anybody, it had to be someone who absolutely needed to be in the know about her pregnancy,

...Charlie.

She gulped, lying back on her couch. 

As much as Dee was going to despise every second of that interaction, it needed to be done.

☼

It was an autumn day. Far enough from summer to have lost the heat and just close enough to winter to have that bite of cold. The November breeze carried fine drops, each one promised rain to come. Dee observed the dark sky. She let her eyes rest for a moment, feeling the ambiance of the street, hearing the sounds, and taking a moment to let her brain be still. As much as Dee claimed she hated Philly, she really did love the way it was almost beat up, but still going. Dee was sure half the buildings in her area are full of drugs, crime, and housing rights violations, but Philadelphia was still a large functioning city, it just keeps going, even while having a bountiful amount of violent crimes. Or was she just projecting her problems on anything for comfort? She felt somewhat cheesy, but she didn’t mind feeling similar to the city. 

Soon she was getting closer and closer to the bar. The streets to the bar were usually desolate or filled with miscellaneous intoxicated people who were always fairly easy to fight off if necessary. Dee didn’t expect to approach a problem, but getting a whiff of the dumpster a couple of blocks away from Paddy’s, she was sent into an involuntary gagging fit. Her newly fragile nostrils had many issues with anything that smells even mildly unpleasant. Dee hoped this wouldn't last her entire pregnancy, maybe she should have paid more attention to what the doctor said. She spent a moment recovering, taking a few deep heaves for air before weakly getting up and continuing. Dee had felt on defensive mode all morning, trying to come up with ways to deflect Charlie’s many possible reactions. It could be any reaction, anger, fear, resentment, panic...excitement. Dee considered for a moment if Charlie was excited about what she would do, would it make it better or worse? She knew this was going to clearly disrupt her and Charlie's lives, and if the gang found out, she couldn't even begin to imagine the mayhem that would occur.

She didn’t have time to fantasize about the possibilities of each reaction, she had arrived at the bar. For a moment she lingered outside, trying to gather her thoughts. She didn’t want to enter the establishment, she wanted to run away and never come back. She wanted to go back home and pack up all her stuff, leave all of Pennsylvania. Where would she go? She didn't know, but anywhere but there. 

As much as she wanted to run with her tail between her legs, she opened the dive bars door and went inside. 

“Dee you bitch!” Dennis greeted her. She observed her brother who was standing behind the bar, sitting in front of him was Mac, who after hearing her name, abruptly turned around. Dee could just feel pent up aggression he was about to unleash on her, she had ignored him all day the day before and that was always the thing that set him off. Dennis had always needed to brag and one up Dee, maybe out of spite or maybe out of a convoluted need to impress her in some way; Dennis needed Dee to outperform. Her brother was never reluctant to share any merciless and cruel insults about her, he wanted her to have low self-esteem so she wouldn't leave him. Dee knew this, but she never let it get past the revelation in her mind, it was easier for everyone if they didn't confront any of their issues. She knew she wouldn’t be able to handle her twin’s verbal assault, she felt too fragile. 

She stopped about five feet shy from the bar, close to the entrance of the office. Mac sat in front of her with a smug look, he probably was going to enjoy her being belittled as much as Dennis was. Mac was weird like that, possessive of Dennis to a fault. He loved when Dennis put any negative attention on anyone else, maybe he thought it would put more positive attention on him. She did not doubt that his obsession with her brother was some form doting idolization, he loved Dennis an unduly amount. It was obvious that Mac felt something more than friendship towards him, and had an awkward and aggressive way of trying to vent those feelings out. It was funny to watch.

Dennis began his rant about how she was a whore or a bitch or some other similar profanity, trying to degrade her. She had been through this rodeo before, being the punching bag. Dennis, Mac, Frack, and less but still, Charlie trying to humiliate her was a daily routine. Since she was a child, Dee had been the person her mother would take all her anger out on. When Dennis entered sixth grade, he started to pick on Dee too, then she had her scoliosis brace… Dee wondered if she was cursed to be everyone's emotional scapegoat forever. As her brother continued on his belligerent rant, Dee felt herself begin to block his voice out. She found it useless to listen to his character deformation, she knew all it would do was torment her psyche, tending to deeply internalize Dennis’s meticulous insults. On occasion, she wondered if it was even worth it to subject herself to this amount of verbal abuse, but she had no real push to leave. 

Well, until now.

Dee decided to entertain the idea she was going to keep the baby, she'd have a justifiable reason to seek out a better life. For her and her baby. It felt weird to call it that, her baby. Not that it wasn't true, but it made it feel real, too real. She had no idea what she was going to do, and leaving the embryo inside her as an it felt easier than making a connection to it. If she was going to get an abortion, it would be easier. She knew continuing to imagine what her life would be like with a child was swimming in dangerous waters. If she went too far with it she may never be able to disconnect herself from the idea of becoming a mother, but she did it anyway. A baby, all her own. She could almost see it, it would probably look fairly similar to her or Dennis, big blue eyes, fluffy blonde or brown hair. Obviously, it would be as cute as Dee was, and would grow up to be wildly attractive, again, like Dee was. She had no idea if she would be a good mom if she even had the ability to do it. But still, she had a weird, almost instinctive urge to at least consider what the baby would end up to be like if she raised it. If it was anything like she was, they would probably get along fairly well. It would be someone living with her who thought and acted like her, she could see herself live a different life through them. And if she played her cards right and raised them the complete opposite of how she was, maybe they would love her forever. Huh. Dee felt weird, the thought of someone having unconditional love towards her felt, foreign, but undeniably very comforting. An impulsive smile pulled at the corner of her lips, as much as she didnt want to admit it, she might be considering- just a tiny bit- keeping it. She had no idea if she would be able too, but the idea was growing on her, but- just a little bit.

“-Dee are you even listening to me?” Dennis shrieked, his face a fitting cherry red.

This broke her out of the rabbit hole of imagination she was in. Suddenly, she was back in the shitty dive bar she walked into, to tell a man who hasn't showered in multiple weeks, walked naked in sewers, and huffed glue, that she was pregnant with his baby. Dee scanned her brother’s vexed expression, he was definitely getting angrier the less Dee fed into his battering.

“Shut up!” She hissed, she didn't have the time to feed Dennis ego.

“You can't come in here after blowing off your job all day yesterday and tell me to shut up.” He retorted, emphasizing how her absence affected himself.

“Yeah!” Mac hollered aggressively. adding nothing to the argument but showing his support to his beloved, Dennis. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him, the ridiculous behavior would only motivate her twin into getting even more irate and excited. If it was something Dennis liked, Mac always seemed to encourage it, even if he didn't like or agree with it. Dee didn't know why he would allow Dennis to treat him in the toxic way he did, but she did also...Dee could have continued the fruitless squabble, but she had more important issues to attend too, so she gave a final dismissive scoff. She started to walk off, deciding to go to the office to separate herself from the two homoerotic, codependent, idiots who were continuing to hurl insults at her at the bar. 

Once she opened the door she realized she had no idea where Charlie was, she was too anxiety-ridden to go back out and have her brother taunt her into a complete mental break, so she decided it would be best for her to just stay in the room for a while, to regather her thoughts. She felt nervous, also feeling kind of dumb, expecting to see him immediately when she walked in. Dee knew she should have regarded her brother and his goon, she must have been too engrossed into thinking about what to say to Charlie. She didn't have to wonder though, as she heard an echoed cough that seemed to be coming from the air vent.

Charlie.

Dee reluctantly took a deep breath, trying to calm her very frazzled nerves. This was it, she had to confront him at some point, she just needed to bite the bullet and do it. It needed to be just right, she knew whatever happened this was going to be a conversation that would play out in her mind forever; whatever choice she- they made.

“Charlie?” Dee’s voice spoke with uncertainty, she didn't like how scared she sounded. 

“Huh?” Charlie’s confused voice echoed, clearly thrown off by anyone addressing him while he was in the vents of Patty’s.

“Charlie it's Dee.” Her voice wavered again, despite her best attempt to sound braver then she felt.

“I know Dee, just because I’m in the vents doesn’t mean I don’t recognize your voice. Duh!” He retorted, sounding somewhat irritated by being in a conversation while he was doing whatever he did, in the vents.

“We need to talk,” She said in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

Charlie didn't respond for a moment, silence filled the office, then she heard reluctant thumping coming from the vents. The sound continued getting closer and soon, the vent cover in the office was aggressively shoved open, showing a dirty and dusty Charlie Kelly.

“What is it, Dee? I’m kind of busy.” He said, fiddling with a headlamp she just noticed was strapped to his head, turning the beam of light off.

“Doing what?” She questioned, peeved she had to start this life-changing conversation with the father of her embryo with him coming out of a goddamn air vent. 

“Well me and Frank bought this python-”

“-You know what, never mind,” Dee interjected, not wanting to hear the convoluted story about whatever Frank and Charlie had done with the snake. “Can you come down here? I really need to talk to you.”

“Well, aren’t we talking right now?”

“Charlie.” 

“Ugh, do I have to?”

“Yes!”

“Fine.”

Charlie scootched forward and held his arms out, indicating he wanted Dee to help him down. She wouldn’t have if under normal circumstances but decided to help him out of the vents this one time so she could finally get the confession off her chest. She climbed on a sturdy chair that was below the entrance to the vent, she assumed it was the one he had entered through. She would never be able to understand why Charlie did the things he did, he was just that way, just so...Charlie. He had always been the weirdest out of all the people she knew and for a long time she saw it as a negative. But now that she knew Charlie on a less superficial and more personal level, she came to respect his actions as he exercised his free will. While the gang’s influence still held strong, he was the only one who usually did whatever he wanted, even if he faced ridicule. Dee had become accustomed and somewhat charmed by some of his eccentric behaviors, while some were disgusting, others were affectionate. He was just himself, in his own very, very, very weird way. Charlie’s hands grasped on her bony shoulders, and she put her hands on his upper rib cage. He pulled himself out slightly until Dee was able to move off the chair and for him to fully scoot out and recklessly land on the top of the chair, hardly sticking the landing while his upper body was supported by Dee’s shoulders. He dropped his hands and sat on the stool as she moved back a couple of steps.

“Dee this better be important I don’t want Miss Slitits to get melted to the vent.”

“Miss Slitits?”

“The snake-”

“Yeah, I get it now.”

“Hey, Frank named him,” he said defensively, not taking the blame for the ridiculous snake name. “What was so important you had to yank me out of the air vents for?”

Dee’s breath hitched, how could she even start to say this? This was not something she could afford to mess up. She needed to make sure this went as smoothly, as telling your hookup buddy who can't even read that you are pregnant with his baby and you want him to come to planned parenthood with you, could be. 

“Charlie,” Dee spoke softly, the words getting stuck in her throat. 

“Dee?” He responded, his confusion abundantly obvious. He looked less annoyed, his face was the same as it was before, but she could see in his eyes that he was concerned. Charlie never dealt with conversations that require total seriousness well. He didn't enjoy the emotional confrontation of problems; much preferring to ignore them until they went away. This doubled with Dee’s odd behavior, he started getting nervous.

“Charlie, I-” She dug her nails into her palm hard, needing some feeling to ground her, “I’m pregnant.”

Charlie looked at her with wide eyes, his eyebrows shooting up in shock. Dee didn't know how to interpret the look. He didn't look like he was any other emotion but completely shocked. He just stared at her for a second, his face frozen, she felt anxious under his gaze.

“Oh shit.” He says suddenly, his eyes breaking from Dee and onto the floor. “Is it mine?”

Dee felt her arms tense up, she fought back wanting to smack Charlie upside the head, “Yes you goddamn moron! Why would I be telling you this?” It came out angrier then she intended but she refused to revoke the insult, too upset Charlie failed to see the obvious.

“I don’t know!” Charlie raised his hands defensively, his pride slightly hurt by Dee’s spout of anger. “It's just like a lot to take in.”

“Yeah…” She said, feeling herself slightly calm down at Charlie sharing her feelings. It was a lot to take in, neither of them planned on having children for a very long time. She didn't even think he had ever even thought about it. A flow of panic filled her body, she felt like her body was caught in between fight or flight. Her mind started racing and she started thinking about everything that could and would go wrong. 

Dee felt tired, the emotions overwhelmed her too much. She went to Frank's swivel office chair and sat down, turning it to be facing Charlie. He reached up to his head, pulling the headlamp band around his head off, and discarding it onto the ground.

“What are you gonna do?” He asked, his head turning to look at her. He met her eyes, and Dee could just feel the panic emanating off him. She knows he felt hers too.

“That's what I came here to talk about, I need to go to planned parenthood and I need you to come with me.” She twiddled her thumbs, trying to keep her emotions in check.

“Yeah, yeah of course!” He said. Dee felt a wave of relief wash over her, not only did Charlie take the news better than anticipated, but he also seemed to at the least, care about the outcome of the situation. She refused to believe it meant anything about caring about her, she knew if she went down that rabbit hole she would probably start to have horrible, romantic, feelings towards him. Having any feelings past physical attraction was bad, it made her more vulnerable to him. She couldn't afford any more vulnerability right now, she needed to keep her head in the game. 

“Ok, good,” She quickly said, wanting to stop thinking about Charlie being sweet. “Let’s go.”

“Right now?” He asked.

“Might as well get it over with.” She got up from the chair, wiping her hands on her jeans.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He stood from the stool and walked up to Dee. For a second they just stood in silence, staring into each other's eyes. Just for a second, she could admire his features. Then Dee felt Charlie step closer and wrap his arms around her, squeezing her slightly. The hug- if you can even call it that- was somewhat comforting to her. Just this once, she told herself, Never again. She snaked her arms around his waist and hugged him back.

Just for a moment, she felt completely safe.

☼

“This place smells like mints,” Charlie observed. To be fair, it did.

The exam room was fairly bare, Dee was seated on the examination table, Charlie to her immediate right in a chair he moved from the corner of the room. They were waiting for the doctor she was sent to see. The room had a couple of informational posters, one about birth control options, another about STDs, and one about Pregnancy termination. Dee would have read them, but even acknowledging any of the information on any of them may send her into a panic attack. She was trying her hardest to keep it together, but she felt like she was about to have a complete meltdown. 

“Really? I think it smells more like a school right after it got cleaned.” The faint smell of disinfectant and the reflection of the fluorescent light on the tile floors reminded her too much of the worst four years of her life. 

“Yeah..” Charlie responded, looking around the room, then gave a surprised “You're right, it does!”

Dee was thankful for the temporary derailment from the two’s current train of thought, both had sat in silence for the majority of the time coming to the Planned Parenthood and waiting inside. She didn't blame Charlie, she had already had one more day to think about it and she still couldn't wrap her mind around it. 

“Dee?” Charlie asked, his voice suddenly becoming nervous. Dee turned to look at him, his eyebrows were pressed together, the concern apparent. “Are we… are we gonna be okay?” 

Frankly, Dee didn't know what that question meant. ‘We’ could really symbolize anything in this situation. She thought about the question for a second, before responding, 

“I hope so.”

She knew that wasn't going to calm either of their nerves, but nonetheless, Charlie gave a small smile. He reached up to Dee’s hand which was holding herself on the examination table. His much larger hand cupped the top of hers in an awkward attempt at a handhold. She didn't mind though, lifting her hand up enough to let him wrap his hand around hers and for her to curl her fingers over his. It was uncomfortable but the two remained like that, trying to comfort each other while they were simultaneously terrified. 

A soft knock echoed on the door and they knew the doctor was outside. She looked over at him, he gave her a queasy smile. 

“Ready?” He whispered.

“As I’ll ever be.” She whispered back, taking a deep breath and straightened her back, “Come in!”

The doctor opened the door, she was a tall, tan, Asian lady. She was dressed in dark blue scrubs with ‘planned parenthood’ over the pocket, along with a stethoscope around her neck. She gave both of them a friendly smile, then introducing herself: “Hi, My name is Vivian Huang, I was the doctor the doctor at the ER sent you too, correct?”

“Yes,” Dee responded, trying to ignore the urge to look at Charlie’s confused face.

“A…” She trailed off, looking at the chart in her hands, flipping a couple of pages back in the stack of papers before stopping on one, “Deandra Reynolds?” 

“That’s me.” Dee tried to sound somewhat lively, but her voice mimicked the miserable feeling inside her. The doctor gave her a sympathetic look.

“And you are..?” She asked Charlie. 

For a moment, he seemed surprised at her even addressing him. Then he just sat there. Dee figured he was having as hard of a time saying it as she did when she was telling him she was pregnant. She felt bad and decided to bite the bullet for him.

“He’s the dad,” Dee said more matter of factly then she had anticipated. She felt her face flush, and she could feel her hand in Charlies was getting sweaty. Feeling uncomfortable about how firmly she had said that, she tried to shake the feeling of embarrassment. Did that make them sound like they were together? Like together together? Why was that weirdly comforting to say?

“Oh! Well hello, Mr..?”

“Charlie.” He croaked, squeezing Dee’s hand. She rolled her eyes, she would probably be the one comforting him, not the other way around. It was hard enough for him to talk so she knew he wasn’t going to get his last name out. She just hoped the doctor would just move on.

And, the doctor did, “Well it is very nice to meet both of you. Let’s get started shall we?”

For once she wanted nothing more for this appointment to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its iasip's birthday i had to post


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie is apprehensive, so Dee gets back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not very happy with this chapter, but i tired. very dialogue-heavy, tried to make it as in character as possible

5:30 PM  
On a Saturday  
Philadelphia, PA

“I'm so pumped, dude.” Charlie said, packing his duffle bag haphazardly, “I hope I get to see at least one ancient spirit!”

It had been two weeks since Dee had told Charlie that she was carrying his child. She was now past a month pregnant. They had a while before they were going to have to make harder decisions, so at least they got that going for them. The two hadn’t gotten to talk one on one yet, and if she was being completely honest, they were both somewhat avoiding each other. Charlie was still most definitely in some form of denial, which Dee was kinda pissed about. He had been very sweet and sympathetic when she had told him and went to the appointment with her as well. But on their return, he quickly became aloof and apprehensive. In her opinion, he was trying to overcompensate for how vulnerable he felt. In his mind, if he ignored her it would avoid the problem. 

She didn't get to ignore her pregnancy as he did. It wasn’t fair. For the past two weeks, her daily routine involved uncontrollable retching occurring regularly all day and night. At just five and a half weeks pregnant, the sickness caused her to have a daily diet of ice cubes and saltines in between puking. Honestly, Dee cried every day. She felt guilty for being indecisive about what she was going to do with the baby, but her days were filled with constant taunts from the gang, vomit, and crying. She had been taking her HG medication and medication to curb her alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and she was still miserable. Even the HG specialist medication that cost well over $100 failed to make a difference. She was told by the ER doctor that it might get bad enough where she would need to be hospitalized. Dee was relieved she was still able to go to work, she wasn’t sure when she wanted to tell the guys and if she took work off it would be suspect. Honestly, she had no idea if she was ever going to tell them Charlie was the father.

Dee sat on the bar countertop, eating a ham sandwich (by ‘ham sandwich’ she literally meant those were the only ingredients, one slice of ham between two pieces of whole-grain bread.) It wasn’t the best, but she was only able to stomach bland things; besides it was better then not eating at all. She had to suffer day in and day out but her baby daddy was going to spend the night in a museum and thinks things are going to come alive.

“I think we should get some chalk and some erasers, because that dust cloud, you know, really shows the laser beam alarms,” Mac spoke, trying to sound badass. There was no doubt the four had some poorly fleshed out plan all akin to their imagination. 

“Oh! Get a little dust cloud going.” Charlie nodded, encouraging him.

“We got to spend a lot of time in the Civil War section,” Frank said in his gravelly voice and jumped on to a barstool. Getting old was gross. 

“No, we're not doing the Civil War section, Frank. We are gonna hit up Ancient Egypt though. I'm very excited about that.” He then turned to the group, emphasizing, “And we're sticking together.”

“Just so I'm clear, you guys don't actually think that things are going to come alive because you're spending the night in a museum, right?” Dee questioned the group of men. How did she get stuck spending the best years of her life with these idiots?

“I'm sorry, but we're simply opening ourselves up to the possibility of an amazing adventure this evening. Is there something wrong with that?” Dennis hissed at her, she rolled her eyes as he continued, “Now, whether that means, uh, Charlie running into his ancient spirits or us having to just, you know, run away from security guards all night, It's gonna be a really really great time. It's certainly gonna be better than sticking around alone all night, watching you eat sandwich after sandwich after sandwich!”

“What the hell is the matter with you? You've been stuffing your face for days.” Frank wheezed, his voice raspy from something he smoked earlier.

“It's fatness, Frank. Plain and simple. The person's becoming fat in front of your eyes.” He sneered at her. Dee had grown up with Dennis as the ‘pretty one’. It definitely gave him some kind of superiority complex over her, making him feel justified in constantly reminding her of it. Dee felt her face start to get hot. She had actually been able to eat the first real food in two weeks and these assholes make fun of her for it. She gritted teeth from an effort to remain silent, her face becoming red with suppressed rage. 

As she progressed further and further into her pregnancy she was getting significantly more and more hormonal. She didn't notice it at first, though looking back at it she was clearly extremely mood swingy. The realization came upon her when the song; “Oh Darling!” by the Beatles, played on shuffle on her iPod. Dee remembered when she would go into Frank’s office when he wasn’t home, and listen to his vinyls on his 60s record player cabinet. Obviously she liked the Beatles. Before her mother had completely crushed her spirits during late middle school/early high school she was a hopeless romantic. It was very embarrassing to think about. She remembered just being a teenager sitting on the floor, leaning against the cabinet as she just put a record on and let it play. She’d always dreamed she got her fairy tale ending, in some ways, she still did. That had to have been twenty years ago. 

God, was she getting old. 

Dee then became upset by how horrible her youth was, how it was robbed from her, and cried for an hour about it. She hadn’t cried in almost two whole years before she found out about the pregnancy. She was not in the mood to be in positions where getting extremely emotional would be the worst move, yet in front of her were four dudes who her every interaction with them was going to push her buttons.

“I don't even know how to make the bird jokes anymore like they don't apply.” Charlie piled on earning laughs from the guys. Frank elbowed Charlie playfully in the ribs. God, she hated these people.

Dee was done, if Charlie wanted to have it that way and be an asshole to her for the sake of the guys then she was going to do what she wanted to too.

“I'm not fat. I'm pregnant.” Dee stated Dennis’s smile faltered for a second before he closed his eyes trying to think through what she just said. Mac just looked at her with a stupid look on his face.

“I feel like you say that all the time now,” Mac responded.

“You better do yourself a favor and flush it out.” Frank shook his sausage finger at her.

“Wait a second... you definitely said that before. You're right!” Charlie told the group, he looked at Mac and told him he was right, earning a smile from the man.

This was definitely not the reaction she was expecting. He was getting even worse! Charlie was supposed to understand how terrible she felt emotionally at the least. She didn't think she could stand to look at him for much longer without going full hormonal apeshit on everyone. But, she didn't want to see him get off scot-free for acting like a dick.

“Yeah, and since we're all saying things that we say all the time I'll reiterate.” Mac looked her in the eyes, insinuating he was wholeheartedly serious, “Dee, we don't care about you or your body, or your baby, or that baby bird you're probably carrying inside of you.”

This also gained a laugh from the group as they stood up with their bags and began to walk to the door. There those stupid assholes go the same assholes that have been taunting and torturing her for seven goddamn years. They always kicked her when she was down, they never helped her. They ruined her day, they probably ruined her life. She never got to ever get back at them, never in the same way they did her. It would kill her, if she lets it, and she might have done anyway. But now there’s someone else to consider. Someone whose heart beats because of hers. That sort of life event will change the way a woman looks at things. It’s changed the way she looks at things.

Fuck it.

“Oh, really?” Dee’s eyebrows raised, she knew this was stupid, but she was angry and pregnant and emotional and she was going to do it anyway. Dee jumped off the counter and divulged: “Well, you should give a shit, 'cause one of you is the father.”

The douches stop in their tracks, all turning around to look at her. Dee didn’t care to look over anyone’s face but Charlie. His mouth was agape, eyes wide. She fought back a smirk of victory. Gotcha, asswipe.

“What?” Charlie was looking at her with what could only be described as shock or dismay. They hadn’t talked about what and when they were going to tell the group, and Dee had just done both those things.

“W-What the hell are you talking about?” Dennis stuttered, clearly appalled.

“I'm talking about the Halloween party. One of you got me pregnant.” Dee grabbed her purse. Charlie looked completely modified. “But you know, since you guys don't care about me or my body or my baby or whatever it was that you were saying, we shouldn't talk about it. You guys are on your way to a museum to spend the night. Hey, have a great time, guys.” She pushed through the group to get to the door, opening it up, and leaving the bar in a huff of anger. She knew she was going to regret that later, but the feeling of vengeance kept her warm while she walked home.

“Oh shit.”

☼

Despite his loud mouth and lack of filter, keeping secrets has always been a skill Charlie had been unrealistically good at. He had been keeping secrets for a very long time, starting at five. Uncle Jack told him being able to keep secrets was always an honorable trait, he trained his nephew like a Pavlov dog. He didn’t care for the small white lies the gang told him to keep, he would spout those out. He didn’t like having stupid small things like that take up the space for the actual big shit he needed to keep under lock and key. 

Charlie has hidden a lot in his life, but he thinks he has met his match. 

“I mean, what is she even talking about? Got her pregnant at the Halloween party? What does that mean?” Charlie was on full defense mode. He was absolutely not ready to tell the whole gang he was Dee’s baby daddy. Goddamnit Dee, you scornful bitch. He knew she was pissed he had been avoiding talking to her for two weeks, and was ragging on her tonight, but did she have to get back at him so hard? “I don't even remember that party; I was wasted.”

Charlie was wasted that night, but the next morning he woke up with hickies all over his chest like he was a sixteen year old. Dee’s pregnancy, the Halloween party, he could all put it together; even if the details were not sharp in his mind.

He and Mac who were seated across on two barstools near tables, Dennis and Frank on stools off the bar. Charlie felt like he was in the executioner's chair, and the other three were all standing by like a firing squad. He’s determined not to tell or even let on. There’s some serious willpower behind it, Charlie hadn’t lied like this in his life. He had no idea how someone could ever murder someone, he was just hiding being Dee’s baby daddy and he was looking over his shoulder all the time, carefully stringing words together so he could ensure they are completely in the dark. Each of his nerves fired at the tips of his fingers, anxiety coursing through his veins. He needed to come up with a plan, he was running out of time. 

“Yeah, me, too. I-I browned out that evening.” Mac also said defensively.

“Browned out?” Frank asked, “What's browned out?”

“Oh, it's when you drink so much that everything goes brown. It's not as severe as a blackout, 'cause I remember bits and pieces. I like to call it browning out.” Mac explained to the group.

“Hmm, never heard of that before,” Frank responded.

“There's a good reason for that, Frank. Because I think Mac just made it up on the spot.” Dennis smirked at Mac. 

“I did.” Mac smiled, proud of getting Dennis’s praise.

“You did?” Dennis affirmed, laughing, “That's a great term... browning out.”

“You like it?” 

“I love it!”

“Thank you.”

“And I-I'm pretty sure at a certain point, we all probably browned out.” Dennis pointed to Mac when using the term, “So I think our best chance at figuring this out is for us to all put our browns together, mash them together and try and figure out which one of you two banged my sister.”

“Okay, but let's not overuse the brown thing right in the beginning, you know,” Mac said. 

“Yeah, but here's the thing. Once you throw a term like that out and everybody likes it, it's pretty much fair game. We can use it whenever…” 

“It's public domain at that point.” Charlie agreed with Dennis. 

“It becomes public domain.” Dennis echoed the grubby man's words. 

“Now we're just trying to figure out who banged Dee.” Charlie tried to act as on character as possible, even though he could feel his hands shaking. He felt paranoid, 

“That's the important thing. Let's not focus too much on the brown thing... even though it's a term that I'm gonna use a lot. And I'm probably gonna use it a lot right now. So here's what I remember from my brown state. I remember we were all in costume, and our costumes were pretty cool, except for yours.” Dennis pointed at Mac. While Charlie didn't remember much from that night, he did remember Dennis looking like a giant asshole in overalls. 

“I was really pissed off at you because we agreed to go as Mario and Luigi. I held up my end of the bargain. And then you showed up wearing a different costume at the last minute.” Dennis began to explain his memories to the group. 

Charlie found himself zoning out. He didn't need to find out who the dad was, he already knew. Now he needed to come up with a plan. While Charlie was good at creating his own stress, he was triumphed by the news of Dee being pregnant with his kid. If this had been anything else, Charlie would have blown it off. But this was not one of the gangs goofy mishaps, this was big boy shit. 

Potentially in eight months, he might be the father of a baby, a real human baby. Like one that cries, and poops and screams. Him? A father? He didn't even know how to be an adult, let alone a person's dad? He was hardly equipt to be a father in a child’s life. He had absolutely no money. Charlie wasn’t sure how much he made consistently, but he would assume it was somewhere between 100-200 dollars a month. It’s not like he particularly needed the money, he wasn’t the type of person to actually, you know, buy stuff. He had a couple of shirts, jeans, and his black and red jacket as the only clothes he owned. He’d been wearing the same sneakers that Mac had bought him in 2004 for Christmas, six years ago. They held up surprisingly well. But Charlie knew what worked for him to stake by was in no way shape or form good for a baby to grow up in. It’s not like he could dip into his savings and just pull some cash out for the kid either, just a couple months earlier giving his entire life savings to Dennis and Mac for a boat that burnt down a matter of days later. What lovely timing. It also didn't help that he probably couldn’t even pick up an additional job, on account, he was borderline completely illiterate and couldn't write even a semblance of a job application. He also didn't really know how babies were born, which he attributed blame the catholic school and its uptight sex ed teachings. He didn't know his social security, he didn't have a driver’s license, he didn't have a bank account, he didn't have anything! 

Charlie felt a deepening sense of dissatisfaction while all his thoughts were trapped in a vortex of upcoming adult responsibilities. If they were to keep the baby his entire life as he ever knew it would radically change. That would be eighteen years of full commitment to raising a real human person. Accidentally getting a girl pregnant was the last thing Charlie ever expected at this time in his life. However, there he was, reeling from the news that the woman he had been sleeping with was pregnant with his baby.

Panic wasn’t the right word, it was pure dread. 

While he was in his early 30s, in no way did this mean he was anything close to an adult. Charlie had the emotional maturity of a fifteen-year-old and definitely had an issue with processing his emotions. He had heard the words like ADHD and Autistic thrown around on the odd occasion anyone would bring up his almost handicapping impulsivity and emotional outbursts. It wasn’t like Charlie was unaware of something being neurologically wrong with him, he just didn't care. Charlie had an apparent hoarding problem as well, he would have a hard time letting go of useless items out of some deep-rooted and desperate need to have the ability to coherently participate in his surroundings. He had no real regard for living in “standards suitable for people'' and could adapt to his environment if needed. Hell, his apartment didn't even have plumbing, he and Frank used old cans. Not that Charlie minded the squaller, a lot of times when his uncle came over for extended periods of time he would sneak out and stay out, wanting to get as far away from him as he could. When he was in his pre-teens, he once spent a week living on the streets. He remembered Mac, at the time going by a more childish nickname ‘Ronnie’ being so impressed by his ability to live outside, calling him Steve Irwin, Charlie didn't think their situations were at all similar but liked the admiration from Mac. Whenever Ronnie would bring it up, he would call Charlie a natural. Charlie didn't think that was true either, he did it out of necessity, he assumed if everyone was in the position he was in they would be able to do it themselves. Even if he didn't admit to others that his childhood was horrible, it was. His childhood consisted mostly of being ignored or hurt by the people close to him, it left deep scars on his psyche. On occasion the gang would ask him about it, Mosty the Reynolds though, Mac had known Charlie long enough to know growing up for him was tremendously hard, and while he refused to deflect any of the Reynolds, he never brought it up. Charlie was grateful for that. Etched deep into his mind were memories he couldn’t forget, even if he tried. They taunted him, during those times he didn't get much sleep either. Said memories led to his first time huffing glue at age nine, the memories dismissed his desperate wishes to not remember so he opted for a temporary chemical-induced sanctuary instead. Charlie managed to make it out of his adolescence alive, but would not wish that on anyone, let alone his kid.

His own kid.

God, he was so fucked.

“It's all coming back to me now.” Dennis nodded, then addressing Charlie, “You came over to me, we agreed to switch costumes, you gave me your sexy, sexy costume, and I was able to feel the seductive temptress finally! Oh, yeah, so I did have sex with the peacock lady. Yeah, awesome. Ah, that's so awesome, dude. Well, mystery solved. I mean... awesome.”

“That's not the mystery,” Frank states bluntly.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Dennis responded empty, still reminiscing about himself. God, did this dude ever take a break?

“That you banged the peacock chick is not the mystery.” Frank reminded him again, more forceful the second time. 

“The Dee thing is the mystery. Right. Dee... somebody had sex with Dee, and she got pregnant and... well, whatever, okay.” Dennis waved the previous conversation off, “Well, clearly, from that story, Charlie, you're the one that banged her. That's why you were feeling so much remorse and regret, and you had the tears coming out of your eye. I mean, who wouldn't feel that way after banging…”

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

Oh, God. What was he supposed to do? Confide in Dennis? Frank? Dee was their kin, and even if they acted as they hated her, both have a level of protectiveness, boarding on possessiveness for Dennis. He couldn’t just tell them that after a month of essentially diluted monogamy to each other, he impregnated her. If he told Frank, he could ruin everything. Frank’s attraction to the gang to him was the lack of responsibility, he had hardly any obligations. So, to hear the man he lives with and who was probably also his son, tell him that he was the father of the woman he “raised” like his own daughter and still paid the rent on her apartment, would for sure shake some things up...And honestly, Charlie was more scared of Dennis. He was so well kept for such an anger-filled person, and a lot of the time he would just snap on one of the gang schemes, maybe it felt more abrupt with his lack of emotional intelligence, but he could tell others were spooked by Reynolds. If Dennis found out, he would strangle Charlie. He’s probably already done it too, Charlie thought it was very likely the twin had killed someone at least once, honestly who didn't get a serial killer vibe from him? It was about more than Dee too, Dennis had always been vehement that none of the members of the gang slept together. Charlie remembered when the twins had first joined Mac and Charlie, who wanted to stick to the plan of buying a bar they came up with in high school. Of course, the two Renylods weaseled their way into the pair's plan, though Charlie didn't mind all too much. Soon, however, it became more than a shared business venture, Charlie and Ronnie became Dennis, Mac, and Charlie. Dennis had been overly malicious with him during their high school years, but now that both of them were older and on way more drugs in their systems, the two developed some sort of mutual understanding; they were the opposite sides of the same spectrum. They never really had an official creation of the gang, it sort of just made itself. Around a year into the endeavor, the trio was getting more shitfaced then usual in the bar. A very intoxicated Dennis made them vow neither one of them would ever have sex with his twin sister, Mac, an obvious homosexual, promised not to, and Dennis eventually squeezed one out of Charlie. At the time he had just thought Dee was hot before he had weird squirmy feelings he’d get when he thought about her. In retrospect, it seemed so easy not to get involved with Dee, reality was different though. She had some sort of magnetic pull, and Charlie always seemed to be stuck in it.

Shit. He couldn’t indulge these thoughts, especially not right now. He needed to deflect, he couldn't talk about this to them yet. He had to have a better plan.

“Ah, shit, dude.” Charlie filled the response time Dennis had given him with buffer words, “Oh, shit. 'cause the way you're telling that story, it definitely sounds like that, 'cause I remember crying.”

Charlie felt his heart thump against his chest, his hands were getting increasing clammy and he could feel the adrenaline in his veins. His mouth ran dry and his stomach turned in an unfriendly way. He felt as if his brain were full of static, either firing off a million unhelpful thoughts at once or offering nothing at all. He wasn't ready, he wasn't ready for any of this. He didn't remember a lot from that night, but he did remember what Dennis was talking about when they traded the costumes. And he was talking about being too sexy because… The Waitress had kissed him! 

“No. Those were tears of joy.” Charlie felt a significant boost in his ego now remembering, “Yes, and it wasn't because of Dee, obviously.” Ahh… the waitress. With her dainty upturned nose and her blonde hair against her porcelain skin. Charlie has been in love with the waitress since his junior year. She was a gorgeous angel. The waitress was in a league of her own for him, she was the top of the top. Charlie wanted to kiss her. Charlie wanted to spend his life with her. He wanted to feel her hand on his own. Charlie wanted to eat breakfast with her, take her to work, and come home to her baking cookies. He visited her at work, paid her compliments, followed her home so he was sure she made it there safe. Charlie was like 100% sure he loved her. She was perfect, he had never loved a woman like he loved her.

(But sometimes, just sometimes, when the lighting was just right, Dee would look at him with her pale blue eyes and layered blonde hair and pearly white smile; and his knees would go a little too weak for his liking.)

“Okay, I remember this now. I remember this, all right?” He nodded, trying to shake the fleeting image of Dee out of his mind, “Frank and Artemis were sitting at the bar, and they were in the middle of some kind of big argument…” Charlie tells what he remembered from the party: He was standing at the jukebox with the McPoyles, just having finalized a delicate truce with them. They fist-bumped and everything. Then, The Waitress walked in together with her new boyfriend. Charlie obviously had to “defend her honor” and pushed the boyfriend. He then called for Mac to have his back, and then punched the boyfriend, who bumped into Ryan McPoyle, who spilled his milk onto Dee. The Waitress was impressed by Charlie's masculinity and they made out. “That's amazing! Man, I got to call her, or I'm... I'm out of here.” 

“Charlie didn't happen,” Frank stated the obvious. 

“No?” He questioned. Though, by now he had already realized it too.

“That's not the way it happened,” Frank told him, shaking his head.

“No?” 

“No.”

Frank huffed, “You got parts of it right, but you're leaving out some major things. Let me set the damn record straight. First of all, don't say I went as Spider-Man. I didn't go as Spider-Man. I was Man-Spider. Totally different. Yes, I was having an argument with Artemis, because a couple of weeks before, we had some makeup sex in a Dumpster out in the back of Wendy's. She incorporated a bun in lovemaking. She took the-the... the dough and rolled it up into a ball, and then she... And we were going berserk. She loves that kind of stuff and I-I... I admit I do, too.”

“Frank, Frank, we don't need to hear this part of the story. Okay? Can you just tell us about Halloween? Stick to Halloween night!” Mac barked, not wanting to know the details of the old man's sex life.

“Okay. We were arguing because she wanted another Dumpster hump and I wanted to stay at the party. That's when you were doing your thing. It was Artemis that took advantage of you because she was trying to make me jealous. After you broke free, you wandered off muttering something about the costume being too sexy.” Frank shrugged, showing a very obvious lack of concern.

“Ah, shit. Somebody, please tell me Frank’s memory is not correct.” Charlie begged, none of the guys said anything, all starting at him with a mix of pity and amusement. Shit.

☼

“Knock, knock, dick faces.” Artemis strutted into the bar like she was walking out onto a red carpet, exuding confidence. She approached the guys, Charlie, Frank, and Dennis sat at the bar stools while Mac was behind the bar preparing her a beer. Charlie looked her over, Artemis was a confident woman, it showed in the way she carried herself. She was also pretty fun to be around and Frank really seemed to like her, so he did too. Charlie figured she was a good role model for Dee, whenever she’d show insecurity he could feel her embarrassment. 

He wondered if Dee had told her too? How many people know?

“Artie, thanks for coming so quick.” Frank’s relief at the woman’s appearance apparent, “Listen, we're trying to piece together a night, and we need some guidance.”

Artemis threw her purse on one of the adjacent tables, its chrome material shining in the dingy bar lights. Mac passed a glass full of tap beer to Dennis, who in turn gave it to the female guest. “I don't remember that night.” She said certainly, taking a sip. The Jewish woman’s gaze fell on him, something Charlie couldn’t decipher sat behind her eyes. He shifted nervously at her eagle-like gaze. He hoped she wasn’t able to smell fear. 

“I didn't tell you which night yet.” Frank retorted to his lover, and she bit back with as much as he did.

“I don't remember most evenings.” Artemis emphasized, “You can try me, but I will not promise you anything.”

“Last Halloween,” Frank asked bluntly.

“Oh, Halloween.” She smiled, nodding her head. It was clear some fond and clearly sexual memories were coming into her head. 

“Anything ring a bell?” 

“That was quite a night. I suppose I do recall a few bits and pieces.”

“What happened?” Dennis inquired.

“Spill,” Frank grunted.

“Well, I was angry at you because of an incident that happened a few weeks before where you and I were in the Dumpster behind Wendy's. I incorporated a hamburger bun in a way that he found very-” Artemis did not get to share her wisdom with the gang though, Dennis interjected.

“This is not the part that we- why does everybody think that we want to know about-”

“Because it's really interesting and innovative, and I thought maybe you'd want some lessons!” 

“Did you make out with me?” Charlie shouted out. He had really hoped not, but the cards seemed to be against him on this one.

“I sure did.” She announced, shameless. “And it worked like a charm, I had Frank to myself for a month.”

“All right, let's get back to Halloween. Anything else that happened that night? Like Deandra getting pregnant?” Frank interrogated.

“Oh yeah, I know that.”

“You do?” Charlie yelped. The group mirrored his sentiments, all erupting in conversation. 

“Calm down, calm down.” Artemis whooped, trying to quiet the men down, “Who do you think took her to the ER?”

“The ER?” Dennis hollered. A look Charlie had never seen before sat on his face, it almost looked like...nervousness? Dennis’s gaze jolted to Frank, who had a puzzled expression. The group was getting riled up, and each of the men was panicking about this situation for different reasons. This news was definitely not helping the mood. 

Charlie felt a pang of worry fill his chest. He could feel the panic rising in the back of his throat. Sure, he hadn’t been “paying attention” at the planned parenthood appointment, but he figured Dee would just let him know what she said after anyways. He remembered the doctor saying something like that at the beginning of the appointment. Why did she go to the ER? Why didn’t she tell him? Was she ever planning on telling him? 

Did anyone else other than apparently Artemis? What if the waitress knew? What if his mom knew? Oh god, what if Uncle Jack knew? He repulsed at the thought. If the baby was staying he was going to make sure Jack wouldn’t ever get to see their face, ever!

“Wait,” Artemis looked over all the guys, face contorted with confusion, “What has Dee told you?”

“The bitch just said she was pregnant and left!” Frank replied. 

“So you know…” 

“Jack Shit!” Mac spoke up, slamming his fist overdramatically on the oak bar. “Except me and Charlie could be the Dad!” 

“We were all leaving and she told us that one of us was the dad, then she left!” Charlie explained nervously, he put all his effort to remain as normal as possible. He dug his fingernails into his palm, trying to remind himself to stay alert. He couldn't afford any slip-ups.

“Ok…” Artemis answered, thinking something over. 

“Why did Dee go to the ER?” Dennis asked, sounding increasingly irate.

“Oh yeah! She has some weird pregnancy issue, she was telling me a little bit about it but I was high as shit so,” Artemis took another large gulp of beer if she was going to continue this conversation she was going to need it.

“What is it?” Charlie asked, he tried to be as restrained as possible, but he could feel himself dancing on the cusp of a panic attack. 

“Some weird-ass name, she has, like, really bad morning sickness.” Artemis tried to sort through the memories while explaining it to them.

“Don't all women have bad morning sickness?” Mac sounded skeptical. 

“That's what I thought too, but she had to get all this expensive medicine. It was kinda bullshit.”

Oh shit. Charlie didn't even think about that, the medical bills. His lungs felt strained for air and he felt like he might vomit. Neither of them had the money for this! Having a baby was absolutely not cheap, and having to constantly get medication. 

Charlie was going to die. No joke.

“How did she pay for it?” Dennis raised his eyebrows, “Her health insurance is pathetic.”

“Listen, that's all I know is she has some issues. Ask her if you want the details so bad.”

“Well, what do you remember from Halloween night?” Frank asked.

Artemis could choose where she was going with this. It was apparent to her Frank, Mac, and Dennis were none of the wiser about the baby’s paternity. Charlie, on the other hand, was completely aware of it, she could feel the panic emanating from him. Artemis also saw the conflict appeared on his face, he’s petrified. Charlie’s bloodied and beaten fingertips were tapping against his knee under a pair of dehabilated jeans. He looked at her with desperate eyes, begging, pleading, for her to keep his secret; just for a while longer. Artemis couldn't lie, having so much power over him was fun, it would be fun with anyone. She could expose him right now in front of the gang, telling them Dee had given her a tearful confession of their love affair and was now with his child. But Artemis wasn’t as malicious as the gang was; she knew it wasn't her place, it wasn't her information to share with the world. So instead she gave a purposely vague and somewhat misleading tidbit of information; “Well I saw Mac go to the bathroom, and when me and Frank went to have makeup sex people were in there, so we had to use my station wagon.” 

Dennis and Frank turned to glare at Mac. The twin was oddly invested in this, despite how much he bitched and moaned about hating Deandra. 

“What are you talking about?” Mac suddenly on the defensive.

“The sounds of hot, passionate lovemaking that were coming from the bathroom that I had heard with my own two earballs.” She responds with a sure tone. If there was anything that she was good at it was deceiving people. Or as some people call it, acting. 

The Reynolds seemingly took her word for it, Dennis raised an eyebrow, “All the evidence is pointing to you pal.”

Huh. One point, Artemis. 

“Artemis’s word is not evidence!” He yelped back to the porcelain looking man. “No, I'm not the... I'm not the dad, okay? Just trust me on that.”

“Then who were you banging you whore?” Frank asked, nose upturned at Mac.

“Yes, there were passionate sounds of lovemaking coming from the bathroom, but it wasn't me and Dee...damn it. I was hoping I wouldn't have to admit this, but I guess I have to tell you.” Mac groaned embarrassed, “Okay, here it goes. I was in the back of the bar when the commotion began, and I heard Charlie cry out for help. He was about to get his ass kicked by that giant dude. There was no time for an ocular pat-down. Secured the area, and I retained order. Like I always do. I had a tremendous amount of douchebag blood all over my knuckles, so I went to the bathroom to clean it off. That's when Dee came in. And..uhhhhhh.”

“Come on Mac,” Dennis pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyed, “We don't have all night.”

“Well, I-I, I kindahadsexwithMargaretMcPoyleinthemensbathroom.” 

“Huh?” Charlie’s eyebrows were pressed down in a confused expression. He was sure he didn't hear Mac right. Margaret Mcpoyle? The Margaret McPoyle?

“Hold on a second.” Dennis raised his pointer finger at a baffled Mac, “So, are you telling us that you had sex with Margaret McPoyle that night?”

Mac took a deep breath, his head lowering in shame, “Yes.”

The group gave a groan, The McPoyles. The inbreed, sweaty, insane, McPoyles. An entire clan of inbreeding city scum. They were the gang if they were a bunch of allele sharing mouthbreathers who only drank milk. Charlie didn't know why the gang ever interacted with them after they tried to rope him into saying he got molested by their elementary school gym teacher. All of them (save for Artemis who had never had the misfortune of having to communicate with the pungently b.o’ed members of the clan) knew what they had to do. 

“Well, you know, we got to go confront the McPoyles about this now,” Frank said matter of factly, gesturing with his hands.

“The only consistent part about every single one of these stories is that the McPoyles were there and they were drinking milk, which means they were stone-cold sober that night. They could probably confirm the truth”. Dennis reasoned. 

Charlie leaned his head back, his Adam’s Apple bobbing as he swallowed. The McPoyles were sober, completely sober. They probably saw him and Dee disappear somewhere and put two and two together.

God, he was so fucked, “Ah shit.”

☼

He did not like this shit.

He did not like this shit at all.

The McPoyles house was humid and the air was heavy, making Charlie’s already spinning head short circuit when he sat down. A tape of Hawaiian music played in an echo around the quiet and empty house. 

The four of them were sitting scrunched up on a couch, across from them sat the twins, Ryan and Liam, who were damp with sweat. They wore loose silk robes, flared out so you could see both of their chests. They were disgusting.

“Last Halloween, hmm.” Ryan cryptically smiled. 

“And Dee's pregnant, huh?” Liam looked over each one of them, for a minute his eyes lingered on Charlie, before moving on to Mac and Dennis. “I remember that night well.”

“As do I.” Ryan smirked, his thin mustache turning up, “Quite well.”

“You were all very, very, very drunk.”

“Quite drunk.”

“You should feel shame.”

“Okay, don't give us your judgments, all right? Can you please just tell us what you remember?” Charlie answered for the group. He bit the inside of his lip trying to conceal his terror show on the outside. 

“Well, we just finished accepting Charles's terrible, terrible truce…” Ryan began telling the story, describing all of the gang's embarrassing misdoings in immense detail. Apparently, both of the inbred twins did not bump with him, which was disappointing but Charlie had bigger issues. The girl who Charlie wanted to defend her honor, wasn't even the waitress, just some blonde chick!

“Are you telling me that wasn't the waitress?” He questioned, not wanting to believe a lot of this confusion was for nothing. 

“Not at all.” Liam solemnly said.

“After the fight, Mac went to the bathroom to wash that poor girl's blood off his hands.” Ryan continued to recount, “And Dee followed. They were only in there a short moment together before Dee came back out. Mac kicked her out of the bathroom so he could make sweet love to Margaret in private.”

“I heard you gave quite a performance, Macwell.” Liam complemented, as Ryan softly clapped. The two then broke into making obscene noises to replicate their sister's moans. “Mm...Mm... oh..mmm…oh!”

“Okay, that's enough, all right?” Mac said angrily, his face now a shade of pink, “God, that's your sister!” Mac looked at with a bemused look, Charlie who blew the brothers' vile behavior off, they just were like that. “Yeah. You know what, just move past it. Just tell the story, please.”

“She's still expecting a call,” Ryan told Mac.

“That's not going to happen. So just move past it, all right?” Mac tried to defuse.

“You will call her!” Liam screeched. The gang jumped at his sudden change of pitch.

“Jesus, man, I'm sorry. Fine, I'll call her.” Mac apologized.

“As I was saying... Dee came out of the bathroom in quite a rage..” Ryan narrated.

“She accosted the girl you were all ogling that evening.” His brother continued.

“Dee came out of the bathroom in her new costume feeling quite saucy,” Ryan said. “She was clearly on a warpath to prove to one of you that she was indeed sexy.”

“And the best way to do that was to trick one of you two into making love to her.” Liam nodded, “Knowing that Charlie was the weakest and by the far the most vulnerable, she assumed he would be the easiest to take advantage of.”

“And so she took Charlie into the back office and had her way with him.” Ryan finished.

Charlie felt an uncomfortable flush of color fill his face, his eyes wide. 

Holy shit! He remembers now!

Charlie was slumped over drunk with a raging headache on the bar, he was waiting for Dennis to stop talking to some girl dressed as a vampire so they could switch costumes. Apparently he decided to try and get some good use out of the costume, doing some “funny man bit” on a girl dressed as a vampire. It was after all the commotion, and his head still stung from being bodied into some dude by Mac. That's when he heard the sound of high heels clicking behind him. Dee grabbed his arm and swung him into the back room with her. Immediately after the door closed she was all over him. While the gang made fun of her a lot for being a whore, wow, it really pays off. He pulled away and asked who she was, so drunk his head bobbled a bit. Dee had groaned at him and shrilled about him being an idiot. Yep, that was Dee alright. The two drunken buffoons then awkwardly stared at each other through their masks before Charlie leaned it and gave her a sloppy kiss. Things quickly progressed from there, and it took a short while for them to finish the deed. Charlie was heaving heavily in Frank’s office chair, Dee got off his lap and asked him some question about how she was a hot bird or something. Both were sweaty, the office air had become humid and heavy, some stray hairs stuck to the sweat on her neck. He had multiple hickies from her, from his collar bone to his stomach and around the area in between. Dee flipped back her hair and pulled her discarded underwear off the floor. She checked him out and gave him a drunken wink. Her heels clicked again against the floor as she left the room, closing the door and leaving him alone. Charlie stood up, trying to gather the strewn articles of his costume; he pulled his pants and underwear back up from around his mid thighs and began looking for his top and his hat. Suddenly, the door was thrown open by a very drunk and very mad Dennis. He stumbled in, pushing the door back and then leaning into it so his entire body shut it with a slam. Dennis tried very hard to thank Charlie for already starting to get undressed, in his very inebriated state. Charlie wasn't going to tell him his sister had just ripped it off him so he just gave a nod and the two traded costumes.

Charlie shifted in his spot, trying to make the physical evidence he was remembering the night less noticeable. He needed to take his mind of the night and remember what it has caused- all of this. Every pair of eyes in the room was on him, awaiting his response. Truthfully, he didn't have one. He didn't even know how to start to say this out loud. The second he admits this to the world there's no going back, if he says it, it's real.

Then suddenly, Charlie didn't have too. 

“That wasn't Charlie,” Mac said, sitting up, “He switched costumes with Dennis. That was Dennis.”

“So Dennis thought Deandra was the peacock chick?” Frank connected, mirroring Mac, and sitting up as well. 

“And Dee thought that Dennis was Charlie?” Mac continued to link together. “So Dee thinks that Charlie’s the dad, but, Dennis, you're the dad.” 

What the fuck just happened?

Charlie looked over at Dennis who was devoid of all color. His eyes were peeled open, he looked petrified. He reminded Charlie a lot about how he felt when he found out, but there was also the component that Dennis also thinks he is the father of his sister's baby. The air was still and he felt like no one was breathing. He had no idea what to say. He knew he would tell them he’s actually the dad and Dee’s baby was in fact not an insect baby, but he felt frozen. All he could do was stare as Dennis gave a gag. 

“Delightful.” One of the twins breaks the silence, both giving a slimy smile.

“Oh, shit,” Dennis gasped, his hand going over his mouth, “I'm gonna be sick.”

☼

Charlie thinks he might have just made this worse.

Like, way worse.

Mac, Frank, and Charlie were running down the hallway of Dee’s apartment building, Dennis following behind, but stopping occasionally to hurl again on the hallway's carpeted floor. Asshole. Then they are in front of her apartment, Mac and Frank hammering on the door screaming her name; he has no choice but to follow along. He felt really guilty. He knew he should have just told them at the McPoyles before Mac started on his crazy conspiracy and Dennis had no memory of the costume switch, so he bought it. But it was too late for him to tell them, not after he just sat there and said nothing the entire time. 

The insistent knocking worked, Dee opened the door and responded with an irritated, “Yeah!”

“This is bad. This is real bad.” Frank frantically spoke, Dee’s eyebrows raised.

“You thought you had sex with Charlie, but it was Dennis that you went into the back room with!” Mac attempted to explain to her.

“I had sex with you...It was sex with me, it was sex with me…” Dennis stumbled behind the guys, his face wet with tears and stomach acid.

“He threw up the whole way over here, Dee. Dennis is the father of that baby.” Mac gave a hard point at Dee’s tiny bump.

“Are you guys on something?” Dee hissed, immediately glaring at Charlie, “I did not have sex with Dennis!”

“No Charlie and him switched costumes!” Frank frantically yelled.“You had sex with Dennis, you thought it was Charlie but it wasn't.”

Dee looked at Charlie with a look that could only be described as someone trying to strangle a person to death with their eyes. Oh shit, she was mad, like really mad. 

“No! I absolutely did not have sex with Dennis!” She groaned, even more, irritated than before at the bar, when she dropped this bombshell on them. “Have you guys been obsessing about this all night long?”

“Yes,” Frank answered in a serious tone, why would he not try to take this seriously. 

“Of course,” Mac added, seemingly vouching for the rest of the guys as well.

“We were running around trying to figure out who the father is. If it's not Dennis, who is it?” 

Dee looked at Charlie. She met his eyes, he could see how angry she was; but he could also see how hurt she was. Dee blinked rapidly to clear her eyes without having to wipe them. She didn't want anyone to notice the tears. She could see in his eyes how terrified he was, how desperate he was to take the easy way out. Dee knew she couldn't change Charlie's mind about it, he would have to make up his mind by himself. She loved him so much and hated him at the same time. She hated the fact that the news seemed to have zero importance for him. How he got her into this mess of keeping her secret along with his, and now thanks to their stupid mistake she was going to have his child. If Charlie didn't want her then she wasn't going to try. 

“It's none of you.” She covered up her hurt with a sassy voice.

“Huh?” 

“No, none of you are the father. I just told you that because you were making fun of me for eating the sandwich, and I thought it would upset you and get you going and it did, it worked. You guys have been obsessing about this all night.” 

Nobody ever gives Dee credit, she was a phenomenal actor when it came to pretending like she wasn't having one of the worst days in her life.

“So, wait, are you absolutely sure that you and I did not have sex, and that that's not my...?”

“Uh, yeah.” 

The guys erupted into cheers of relief, well all of them but Charlie. He was looking at Dee with pity and remorse but made no effort to say anything. As the three dismissed the now-defunct case of the gang paternity of Dee's baby they decided to continue with their previous plans and continue the journey of sneaking into the museum. They begin walking away, leaving the two expecting parents to stare at each other. Dee looks away, trying to hide the hot tears streaming down her face. 

She sneers, “Go with your friends, clearly what they think is what's most important to you.”

The door slams in his face.

Yep, he definitely made this worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also not happy about the ending but ive been trying, again and again, to get it right and this is the best i think i can do.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dee and Charlie go to the first sonogram appointment together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't think charlie and frank have a fire escape but they do now bitches. super short compared to the other chapters, but i realized i want the non-episodes (like the first two chapters) be shorter than the ones with episodes (last chapter) which im personally a whore for
> 
> enjoy :-)

5:00 am  
On A Tuesday  
Philadelphia, PA

Dee Reynolds felt like an idiot. 

It was a particularly cold early morning. It was so early, in fact, that the sun hadn't even broken dawn. December was notoriously cold in Philadelphia, and although it didn't snow, the temperature would be in the early double to single-digit numbers. The air was frigid but still, giving the streets of the city an eerie silence. Heavy, dark clouds loomed overhead, blanketing the sky in a starless cover. No one that had the choice would be out here, but there Dee was. She could hear the thin layers of frost under her boots crack. The cold that had seemed mild at first now numbed her face, she underestimated how bitter the winter morning would be.

Shivering, she walked to the main entrance. Dee reached for one of the door handles and yanked it back. Unsurprisingly but concerningly, it was unlocked. She ventured in, trying to escape the cold; though when she entered the building it was practically the same as being outside. Annoyed by the stinging sensation she was beginning to get on her ears and her nose, she ventured onward. Knowing the elevator was broken since 2008, she didn't even give it a second glance, instead of walking up the stairs. Each step against the damp and moldy carpet left a small footprint. Ew. As she ascended, various unsettling sounds became audible. She repulsed, picking up her step slightly. Soon, she reached the third floor, which was dilapidated as the past two. She walked down the hall, passing a passed out man with an empty bottle of cheap bourbon clutched in his hands. Lucky bastard. Approaching her desired destination, she gave a hesitant knock. A minute of silence passed, the only sound to be heard was the drunken man stirring in his sleep. She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting a little bit longer before she knocked again. On the other side of the door, Dee heard the footsteps of someone getting up to go to the door. She shifted on her feet.

Frank opened the door abruptly, the whites of his eyes now a rose hue. “Whattda you want bitch?” He was dressed in the clothes from the previous day, save for the abundance of wrinkles and grease stains that now littered the articles. It was a grey collared tee, with long pants and leather loafers; the clothes wreaked of the elder man's sweat.

Dee could very easily identify the almost nauseating smell as weed, good weed too. She resisted the urge to pout, she missed being able to do drugs. The odor was stronger than if they had just smoked once, the two had most likely been chain-smoking since the late hours of last night. She sized up the short and disheveled man. He was clearly intoxicated, besides his eyes being red they were also half-closed. The stubby man's hands were covered in a thin layer of dark ash as well. His short stature was to Dee’s advantage, as she was taller than most of the gang, towering over Frank.

“I need to talk to Charlie.” She said vaguely, trying her best to be as composed as possible. 

Frank’s face contorted into a look of bafflement, “Why?”

Dee pressed her shoulders back, straightening her posture so she could look less nervous then she felt, “Why do you care?” 

“I-” Frank began, but soon gave up the line of questioning, as he didn’t want to waste his high, “Whatever,”

He moved out of the way, retreating into the room to get something to eat. Dee entered the apartment after him, closing the door when she came in. The futon the two men normally slept on was pulled back into a couch, Charlie was sitting on it eating a bag of Cheetos watching something on. Dee could hear gunshots and horses. He too was still in the clothes he had been wearing yesterday, his Adidas black and red jacket, jeans, and sneakers. Frank sat next to him, and greedily reached his hand into the bag. Charlie, upon noticing her, looked at Dee with wide eyes, surprised to see that she was in his apartment.

“Bird wants to talk to you,” Frank grunted, shoving a fist full of Cheetos into his mouth.

Charlie just nodded, taking his hand out of the bag and licking the Cheeto dust off his fingers. He stood up, looking at her with confusion. “What’s up?” He asked, his eyes showed an equal tinge of pink.

“Can we talk?” She asked, then glancing at Frank, “Alone?” 

He looked at the old man as well, then nodding again in agreement. Frank didn't acknowledge them, focusing on some old spaghetti western movie. Charlie moved to the window, unlocking and opening on the window. Dee raised her eyebrow in surprise, but it was almost certainly the two’s best bet. He crawled through the open window frame, scurrying onto the fire escape outside of his apartment. Dee felt uncertain but still followed the man.

The two stood in silence for a moment, Charlie waited for Dee to gather her thoughts. She glanced up and met his eyes. Suddenly, she felt shy, her cold face warming with a blush. 

“I need a favor from you.” She said, sounding more submissive then she had hoped. 

“I thought you were, like, all mad at me,” Charlie responded relaxed, the weed helping keep his nervous nerves in check.

“I am.” Dee bit back, crossing her arms in anger. “But… I need you to come to my first ultrasound with me, it's the first appointment they had, at seven.”

The second time that night the man's face displayed a look of confusion. “Why?”

“What do you mean why?” She shrilled, “You're the Dad!”

Charlie shuttered, he wasn't sure if it was from the cold or being called ‘the dad’ of Dee Renyolds baby. “Yeah I know, but wouldn't you want someone more…”

“Supportive?” Dee hissed, still torn up about him letting everyone think that Dennis and she had slept together at the Halloween party and he was the father of her baby.

He gave an awkward laugh, “Yeah…”

“I just need someone there.” She spoke quietly, eyes fixated at her shoes in shame, “I dunno, aren't you curious to see it?”

Charlie stared at the blonde woman standing next to him. Her features were increasingly pink the longer they sat in the Pennsylvania cold. Her blonde hair was in a low ponytail, and she was ill-equipped for the cold; wearing a long sleeve tee, jeans, and rip-off ugg boots. Charlie examined every detail of her face, feeling an uncomfortable twinge in his chest. He tried to convince himself the feeling stemmed from the high, and he wasn't having any feelings past sexual for Dee. He loved the waitress, everybody knew that? He didn't like Dee, not like that, not really at all! Charlie had never been attracted to her past a physical standpoint. She was hot okay? He didn't care if Dennis and Mac and Frank all teased her, he knew she was pretty- hot. He meant hot. 

“A little bit,” Charlie responded, Dee met his eyes and gave him a small smile. (That may or may not have caused his heartbeat to speed up in his chest.)

Dee raised an eyebrow, “So you're coming?” 

He looked back at her, feeling his lips pull back in a smile, “Yeah.”

Relief flooded Dee’s facial features, “Thank you.”

They fell into silence once more, both looking at the outline of the high rise buildings that made up the city of Philly. Dee could see airplanes descend from the dark clouds, and the lights of the tall buildings illuminating the skyline. 

“Jesus Christ it's cold.” She huffed, crossing her arms around herself. She got no response, a beat of silence passed before she began to hear the sounds of Charlie unzipping his jacket, which he promptly put over her shoulder. She turned to look at him, like really look at him. He was clearly still high out of his mind, but a look of genuine fondness was on his face. He smiled, letting his hand swipe a stray hair behind her ear. She felt her heart palpitate and fought the feeling of going weak at the knees. Goddammit, what was she letting Charlie Kelly do to her?

“We’re gonna be okay,” Charlie whispered, his voice filling the empty air. “We are.”

She hoped he was right.

☼

It took twenty minutes for the staff to call Dee’s name. Charlie had grabbed her purse for her as he ushered her ahead. He waited patiently as her stats were taken in the hallway and then in the exam room. Then the nurse left the room and handed Dee a gown and went on her merry way. She changed so quickly that Charlie barely caught a glimpse of it, and he quickly realized why. The doctor knocked twice and then walked in less than two minutes after the nurse left. Charlie didn’t think he had ever seen a doctor’s office run so efficiently, he remembered when he was sick his mother would take him to a doctor where the two would wait all day to see the doctor.

“Good morning!” the bubbly doctor they had last time entered. “Ok, let’s get right into it. Dee, how have you been feeling? How have the HG symptoms been?”

“Bearable,” Dee scrunched her nose, trying not to remember the last time she was forced to purge. “And I’m sleeping all the time.” 

“How many calories do you think you ingest on a normal day now?” The doctor began typing something on the laptop she had brought in with her. 

“I can only really eat bland things, watermelon, whole wheat bread, saltines, celery,” Dee listed, “So probably around 2,300?”

“Good good, we want you to be eating as much as possible,” The doctor nodded along, “All of that is to be expected. How is your digestion otherwise?”

“Not horrible, but not perfect,” Dee reasoned, giving a shrug “I can’t complain too much about it.”

The doctor nodded, clicking on her laptop, scanning over a word document, “And how are your withdrawal symptoms?” 

Dee shrunk into herself a bit, clearly embarrassed the question was being asked in front of Charlie, “Fine. Haven't had a drink since I found out I was pregnant.”

“Congratulations Dee!” The doctor said genuinely happy for her pregnancy sobriety, “That was a lot of hard work, I'm proud of you.”

Dee, just this once, allowed herself to accept the praise, just returning the sentiment with a smile. The first part of the visit went more or less like that, the doctor asking questions, Dee answering, Charlie sitting in silence, and sometimes the doctor would add comments with useful information to help her feel more comfortable through her pregnancy. The doctor also wrote her refills to her prescriptions, and she told her when they needed to meet again due to her special circumstances.

Then, the doctor stepped out, wished them a good month, and confirmed the exact date that she would see them for another appointment. 

That's when an ultrasound technician with a cart full of equipment, rolled it into the room.

“Are we ready for the baby's first pictures?” She smiled. Dee thought she might love her job a little too much by how widely her lipstick covered lips spread over her teeth in a smile. “I’m going to have you lean back dear, and you” She nodded to Charlie, “you should bring your chair over because you’re going to want to see this.” 

Charlie, now thoroughly intrigued, did as he was told. The chair was to the left of Dee, the machine to the right. 

The technician looked over what was in Dee’s digital file, reading over it quickly before recapping; “So you are over the age of thirty-five and have hyperemesis gravidarum, so you are marked as a high-risk pregnancy.”

“Correct.” Dee positively identified.

Charlie tapped on her arm, whispering, “Yeah you gotta get me more up to speed with that.”

Dee rolled her eyes but agreed nonetheless. 

“You’re eleven weeks correct?” The technician asks another question.

“Yes,” Dee responded.

The technician got out a tube of gel, nodding to show the two she heard and understood. “Sorry but it's going to be cold,” She warned before spreading some of it on Dee’s stomach. She shivered at the contact of the cold. The technician then got the ultrasound wand ready, placing it on her slightly protruding baby bump.

A sudden repeated whoosh filled the air, a rhythmic, static-filled with that echoed in the room. The nurse was still holding the wand against Dee’s stomach, and staring at the small video feed that was set just above her keyboard, making an approving face.

“All right, Mom and Dad. Let’s meet your baby.” Both of them tried their absolute hardest not to dwell on being called that.

She turned the machine monitor toward Dee and immediately gestured with the back of a pen toward the bottom of the larger monitor. “See that little body?”

Dee squinted toward the fuzzy black and white image, the outline of a little body was coming into fruition. Jesus. It even looked like a baby. Even though the fog of static, she could make out a head and a little belly and a leg that was protruding up and at an angle. The bottom of his foot was pressed against one side of her uterus. If she squinted, she could even see a couple of tiny toes. Oh, my god. This was incredible. The little thump-thump-thump of the heart monitor just kept echoing through the exam room, making Dee’s head spin with relief. That was her baby, its little heart beating inside their chest, they were alive. She fought back the urge to cry. A couple stray tears fell anyway. 

The nurse smiled before continuing to write on the chart. “Isn’t it something? Have a look, Dad.”

Charlie sat up and turned toward the monitor immediately, but she knew the second the penny dropped because his eyes got very round, he became very still, and let out a shaky breath. Charlie looked at the screen with a look she had never seen before, pure bemusement.

“That’s really- them?”

His fingers slid through the clear gel inquisitively, grazing across her bare stomach for the first time since they’d actually made the baby. She barely noticed; she was so wrapped up in watching the tiny screen. The baby’s heartbeat was so quick and loud. It sounded so strong. She was so happy she could hardly breathe. She never thought she could feel such unadulterated and pure joy. It flooded her senses, and she couldn't register any feeling but pure delight.

The technician looked back at the computer, clicking on some things on the keyboard before pulling a strange face. “Huh.” Her voice shifting from positive and upbeat to confused and somewhat concerned.

“Is there something wrong?” Charlie asked for the first time in the appointment; reading the strange new look on her face.

“Normally at eleven weeks we would like to see the head measuring twenty centimeters your baby is a bit under,” she remarked, clicking on more stuff hooked up to the machine.

“How far under?” He asked.

“The measurement is eighteen,” She said.

“Is that still within the normal range?” Dee piped in, her eyebrows pressed together in concern.

“It’s on the low side, we’ll just keep an eye on it,” The technician commented, typing a note on the side of Dee’s digital patient file,

Charlie looked to Dee and she gave him a reassuring smile but he could see the worry in her eyes. Dee knew that the pregnancy complications were not her fault, but not unlike the baby she was carrying, she felt responsible for it anyway. It has endangered her and now it seemed like it was endangering the life of her unborn baby.

“What would the issue be with a low measurement throughout the pregnancy?” She asked, the nervousness more apparent in her voice.

“Anencephaly,” The technician answered again, turning away from the screen to look at them.

“Which is?”

“It’s a neural tube defect. Usually, it translates to large portions of the brain of a developing fetus are… missing, there are stages of deterioration and function, but please, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” The technician warned, not wanting the either of them to become panicked.

Dee nodded but the wheels were already spinning. The worry and possibility of a child that may not live, or if it did, would have considerable issues with the quality of life was playing out in a sick prophetic vision. Dee felt her fingers curl into the gown fabric, trying to compose herself. Charlie had a dumb look on his face, he clearly was having his one issues grasping the situation at hand. 

Soon the appointment finished up, Charlie and Dee leaving the building with printed pictures of their baby in black and white. She stared at them as they emerged from Planned Parenthood, beginning to walk home.

“That was pretty cool,” Charlie admits, strolling next to her.

Dee feels a smile grow on her face, “It was.”

“Can't believe you cried.” He teases lightly, it wasn't an actual insult like the ones that he would throw at her with the gang. It was, dare she say, playful?

“Shut up.” Her mouth responded for her in an equally as tongue-in-cheek way as he did.

For a while the two walked in silence, their hands occasionally brushing. The sky was a vibrant orange, the sun over the horizon line. The frost was beginning to melt, the sidewalk concrete becoming wet. The city illuminated with the sunrises glow, and people beginning to commute to work begin to fill the streets. Dee felt her hand brush with Charlies once more and grabbed it abruptly. His head whipped to look at her, she tried to dismissed the gesture, though.

“I don’t want us to get lost in all these people.”

“So we don't get lost in all these people, right.” He repeated trying to sound intelligent, Dee didn't mind, however, and the two continued hand in hand.

☼

Dee’s apartment was still when the two arrived. It was fairly clean, save for the kitchen where she tries to figure out what foods her body won't reject. She gives a huff as she sits on the couch, Charlie stands awkwardly at the now-closed front door, clearly awaiting her instruction. 

“Beer’s in the fridge.” She told him bluntly, taking off her boots and resting her feet on her coffee table. 

“Thanks” Is the only response she gets from the grubby man before he disappears into her kitchen, out of her immediate view. She was sure she could watch him if she needed too, but she wanted nothing more but to relax. Charlie's voice filled the quiet, “Want one?”

What a goddamn idiot. “Charlie what did we just get back from?”

“Uh, uh, Ulta sound?” He talked with uncertainty. Close enough. 

“Why?” She asked again, trying to get him to realize himself how stupid the question was.

“Uhhh…” He began, she could hear him mumbling something to himself when “Cause’ you’re pregnant?” 

“Exactly. And what can't pregnant women drink?”

“...Beer.”

Dee’s face broke out into a triumphant smile, she heard him open her fridge, and some glasses clinking together before he reappeared back in the living room, two beers in hand.

“Charlie-” She began, annoyed that her whole questioning did nothing, but she was cut off by the man.

“These are both for me!” He responds, sitting in a chair, twisting the beer cap off with his calloused hands. Then gulping the cold beverage down and Dee tried to fight off the feeling of jealousy, god she wanted to drink. 

Dee felt a statement sit on the tip of her tongue, she didn't want to have this conversation but knew she had too, she had to make a decision with him. 

"I need you to tell me what you want," she said slowly, carefully. Her emotions were surging and she didn't want to make this a more hysterical moment than it had to be. "Because if I.. flush it out, and that's not what you want, then you'll resent me for taking this away from you. But if I keep it…god, I don't even know."

There would be no going back. Even if she terminated, and they tried again to just be friends, she knew in her heart that it wouldn't be the same. She’d never be able to look at him without wondering ‘what if’. 

"What do you want me to do?" Her eyes became heavy and wet with tears. 

"I don't know what I want, Dee," He said honestly.

Dee hung her head, she knew what she wanted but she didn’t understand why. But she had begun to become attached to the burgeoning life, to its tenacity and its existence despite the odds. Today at the ultrasound she shocked herself by feeling so much connection to the little fetus sitting in her uterus, waiting to be her baby.

"Do you want to keep the baby?" he asked gently.

Oh god. The baby. Every time she thought the word, this all became terrifyingly real. 

"I know it doesn't make sense," she said breathlessly. Confirming her stance on what she thought was best to do. 

"Why do you want it?" Their eyes met, Dee could see the fear behind his eyes, she knew he was scared. She was scared too. But that didn't stop her from wanting to keep it.

"I don't know Charlie, I'm getting old, this might be my last chance to be a mom.” She explained, sounding pitiful, “I just don't think I could spend the rest of my life without them now…”

Dee’s hands moved to her mid section, both slid under her now slightly protruding bump, pressing against the underside of her new belly. Touching her baby bump made her feels safe, like she was waiting for a gift to be delivered and would get to see where the package was all day. Her fingers where cold, giving herself a shiver as she held her stomach. 

Charlie gave Dee another peculiar look, but something about it told her he resonated with her thoughts, this was further confirmed when he began to nod. “Dee, whatever you want, I'll support you.”

That surprised her, the same Charlie Kelly who let her brother, his ‘not’ boyfriend and her father think she was carrying her twin siblings baby. She gave him a skeptical look as he downed another gulp. He burped, noticing her facial expression, “I mean it, Dee. I don't know how involved I want to be, but seeing it today, I dunno, it feels right to bring that little dude into the world.”

Dee tired to push the feeling of elation down. Telling herself she didn’t care what he though about what she was going to do anyway. 

(But she let the soft smile pull back her cheeks and press her lips together anyways)

“How do you know it's a boy,” She asks, again in a playful manner, very relieved he understood.

“I feel it in my bones!” He slurred back, the hash and alcohol mixing slightly in his veins.

“Well, tell your bones they don't know shit.”

“Hey! They heard that!” 

Charlie’s goofy smile enhanced Dee’s feeling of delight she was still reeling off from seeing her tiny baby. She closed her eyes, he was going to be the death of her. Having sex was one thing, their love affair were something entirely different. It was true she had been in places she shouldn’t have been, with men she shouldn’t have been with; but those were for the thrill of sex and nothing more. In this case, she was not only where she shouldn’t have been, but her heart was wrapped up in it as well. Emotions, not only her body driving her thoughts. And that was far more dangerous than just sex. She felt scared, exhilarated, horny, and disgusted all at the same time, Charlie was influencing every aspect of her life. The thought of him would linger in the back of her mind all day, every day.

Even if she wasn't feeling these mushy feelings, she would never be able to hate the man, for he was giving her the best gift of her entire life. Her baby. 

The soft snore of Charlie was the only sound in the house, at his feet rested two empty beer bottles. Dee stood up, deciding to try to eat a hard boiled egg. Walking to the kitchen she looked back, seeing his spiky and unkept brown hair peak above the back of the chair.

Maybe, just maybe, this would work. 

The two of them would just have to see it through and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> took adderall and wrote two chapters so my new agenda is to beg my psychiatrist to put my adhd diagnosed ass on adderall because that shit was amazing


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie needs a break and Dee realizes something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didnt add the Duncan/Surprise party/Dream book stuff in the actual chapter because i tried to write it and it was so horrible I would die if anyone was forced to read it. I hope y’all enjoy what was acceptable for public viewing lmaoo

10:00 AM  
on a Tuesday  
Philadelphia, PA

Charlie Kelly had never been this stressed out in his entire life. 

Walking up the stairs his eyes became glazed with a glossy layer of tears. He bit his chapped bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood, to try to hide any pitiful sound that wanted to escape from his mouth. He knew crying made him weak, so he tried his hardest to hold it all in. His lungs gave off a slight burning sensation as he tried to hold back his body’s desperate attempt to weep. His sour mood might have been caused by his new insomnia, lack of appetite, and crippling loss of resolve he felt each day as a dull, nameless ache in his heart. He was absolutely miserable, barely holding on by a thread.

Despite the name, Charlie actually hated most ‘Charlie work’, especially taking care of the rats in the basement. Five years ago, when Dennis officially coined the term, he set up a list of chores nobody else wanted to do and passed it off to him. Most of the chores consisted of the grosser things needed to upkeep the bar so it was at least above a B on the next health inspection. At first, it seemed like a pretty sweet gig, Charlie seemed to like gross things. But soon he began to see the immense downside, it wasn’t just the various potentially hazardous situations he was thrust into, it was that no one even appreciated anything he did. Without him, the bar would most definitely become absolutely vile within a week. Charlie didn't like bashing rats heads in, no one did, but he did it to uphold the gang. It was more than repairing and exterminating, it allowed the bar to keep going, without the bar the group would eventually completely fall apart. He wasn’t sure why he continued to do the work even when he undoubtedly hated it just for the sake of the gang, he knew they weren’t the best of people, especially not to him. He couldn’t fight the urge to ensure everything was under control. It was an obsessive need to try to keep them in the perfect environment for their friendships. 

“So like you said, when you come face-to-face with something like that, what are you supposed to do?” He heard Mac’s voice through the door once he reached the top of the stairs. Charlie felt like he was in a haze, his mind and body operating at two different levels. It was apparent that the cracks were showing in his poorly executed facade. He was completely mentally and emotionally strained, the thought of anything related to the bar would take his mind off Dee and his baby that she was carrying. His brain could take a break. He needed a drink.

“You just gotta laugh,” Frank responded as Charlie emerged from the basement, swinging his bat to sit over his He gave an involuntary groan, drawing the attention away from the gang’s topic of discussion onto him. He didn't acknowledge them though, passing by Dennis at the entrance to behind the par to get himself a beer.

“Oof,” Dee said at the sight of him, her eyebrows pressed together in unspoken worry.

“Hey buddy,” Mac spoke somewhat cautiously. Looking at the disheveled man up and down. Charlie paid him no mind either, popping off the beer cap with his hands and taking a swig.

“Yeah,” Dennis continued, “What's going on there, pal?”

Charlie's mind filled with violent and disturbing thoughts. The stress of the baby, hiding the paternity, doing all the charlie work, and constantly having an existential crisis, had caused his mind to fray at the edges a bit. Dee was seventeen weeks pregnant, now in her second trimester. The baby was coming, and it was coming fast. He was still indecisive about what role he was going to play in the child's life, it was all he thought about. Because, what if he was a part of the kids life teaching them nightcrawlers, play music with them, water parks, field days, playgrounds, just over all have unadulterated fun with someone who would adore him. As time went more and more by he was starting to feel the idea about being an active father in the kids life growing on him, it scared and excited him at the same time. But what if he wasn't? What if he watched Dee raise his kid alone and had no responsibilities, he could just hang with the guys and sleep well knowing they would be in good care with Dee. At first, he was only considering this option if the baby was going to be born, right after he first found out. Now, Charlie was lost in a back and forth limbo, sometimes petrified to be a father and sometimes ready to be there for a kid that very day. Charlie knew he was on the cusp of some sort of identity crisis or whatever, but he couldn't stop himself from only thinking about the baby every second he could. He owed it to her to be consistent, and make sure he followed through with it.

Suddenly his brain bounced back, seemingly remembering the feeling of four pairs of eyes on him, while he starred in the opposite direction, drinking a beer and holding a stick used to smash rats over his shoulder.

“Oh, my God,I just found a rat's nest.” Killing rats was one of Charlie’s least favorite things, “Slaughtered about 200 of 'em.”

“200? Couldn't be. That's…” Dennis started, clearly in very uncomfortable disbelief.

“Jesus Christ.” Someone else spoke, Charlie wasn’t paying attention though, now reminiscing about all the rat’s skulls he bashed in.

“Oh, it's like, it's like whole generations of those things have died at my hands, and... mothers, fathers, grandfathers, little baby rats…” Charlie scoffed, he had tried multiple times to make himself indifferent to gore and guts but it never seemed to work.

“Wow,” Mac said nervously, unsure what to respond.

“Well,” Sweet Dee began in a softer tone, knowing this was not just about a bunch of rats, “You know, keep up the good work.” She was sympathetic. The both of them were trying to be as discreet about the whole affair, neither of them wanted to confront the other in front of the rest of the gang. Dee shared Charlie’s panic. 

“Yeah,” Dennis said blankly, no one is really sure what to say.

Yes, the bludgeoning of rats deeply disturbed Charlie, but compared to his child that was denfinatlly now being born and raised by Dee, it took a backseat. It was better if he used something else that was a genuine pain for him, they wouldn't try to scrutinize if Charlie showed emotion- it made them uncomfortable. It was significantly better than trying to create an entire lie or trying to keep all his feelings inside.

“Sometimes I wonder though, if our lives are really more valuable than theirs, you know what I mean?” That was something he had truly thought about. 

“Yeah,” Someone else said, trying to fill the silence up with something. To be fair most people don’t really know how to respond to their friend’s existential rat murder crisis. 

“They are…” Dennis spoke.

“Yeah.” Dee nodded.

“Our lives are definitely…” Dennis said while Charlie took another swig of beer, the liquid making an audible swish in the bottle.

“Yeah. without a doubt.” Mac chimed in. “Without a doubt.” 

“If that makes you feel any better…” Dennis added.

“Mm-hmm.” Dee non verbally agreed with her brother.

“Yeah,” Charlie dragged out his voice, “Well, I suppose I oughta…”

“Get back to it?” Mac said slowly.

“Yep.” Dee agreed. She knew she needed to talk to Charlie, he looked like he was going to snap any second. Her baby daddies existential quandaries about rats aside, she could tell he was very anxious about their current situation.

“Jump right back in there, tiger.” Dennis encouraged. 

“Get on the horse.” Mac added, “Charlie, bash, bash 'em up.”

“Do what you do best,” Dennis said again. 

Charlie expected their lack of sympathy, they were all cynical bastards. It didn't matter to him though, he was just glad he had gotten something off his chest, it gave him a little relief from his inner turmoil. “Alright. Thanks, guys.” He began to walk out from behind the bar, “I just gotta go to the bathroom.”

“Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Dee tried to hide the worry on her face. She didn't like how nervous all his behavior has made her. She wasn't sure what she was scared of, she just didn't want to be in a situation where Charlie refuses to talk or even acknowledge her, she would not be able to handle that. She tried to tell herself that those thoughts were completely irrational, she had known him since she was a sophomore in highschool. He wasn't going to just up and leave. 

Maybe it's the hormones.

Charlie passed Dennis, tapping his shoulder with the gross rat bludgeoning stick. He never seemed to have the higher ground with the group's self proclaimed ‘leader’, so he knew he wouldn't miss an opportunity to get back at him. He knew Dennis wouldn’t like that at all. Dennis wasn't going to yell at Charlie when he was so clearly upset; he wanted them to have lower self esteem then him, but not so much they wanted to off themselves. Charlie normally wasn’t malicious, but it did make him feel a little better to hear the doll man squirm.

He walked to the bathroom, opening the door, and promptly entered.

“He touched me with it.” He heard Dennis repulse as the door was closing.

Charlie felt a semblance of a smile pull the corners of his lips. The squeak of his Adidas sneakers squeaked against the tiles echoed off the empty mens bathroom wall. He looked at himself in the mirror. He was covered in filth. Any normal person would be revolted to be covered head to toe in gunk, dirt, dust, and rat blood; but Charlie was different. He needed to be dirty. He felt dirty in his soul. 

Charlie Leaned over the sink, staring blankly at himself in the dingy mirror. He felt embarrassed to look at himself. He felt weak, weak and disgusting. He couldn't even provide for a freakin’ baby, and that was like what dads were created for. A failure, nothing but a failure. He couldn't be a dad, he never even had a dad. He was torn between thinking what was best for Dee and him or the baby. She was going to keep the baby, he didn't think he had it in him to be the father figure in his life. Immediately guilt set in, he couldn't look at himself anymore. 

He needed to get some air.

☼

“Hey Charlie.” Dee said somberly as he drove around a stuffed racoon taped to the top of a remote control car. Charlie was stressed by the gang knowing about Dee’s pregnancy, to be fair, she was too. She knew he was delicate, but she needed to confide in the only other person who understands.

“Hey.” he responded dully.

“Okay, hey, listen, uh, you've been really stressed, so I thought I would take you for a spa day, just you and me.” She tried to sound as relaxed as possible,

“A what day?” He questioned in wholehearted confusion.

“A spa day.” She shrugged, trying to make it feel more casual. She wasn't sure if he was trying to act like he didn't understand, or he really didn't.

“What is this word ‘spa’?” Charlie said, trying poorly to put the linguistics together in his mind, “I feel like you're starting to say a word, and you're not finishing it. Are you trying to say ‘spaghetti’?”

He really didn't. Dee curled her hand into a tight fist. She cannot believe she is carrying this man's baby.

“Are you taking me for a spaghetti day?” He asked, now sounding somewhat enthusiastic.

“No, Charlie, I wasn't trying to take you for a spaghetti day.” She hummed, very irritated, “You know what? It doesn't matter. It's okay.”

He continued to fiddle with the toy car, clearly not considering her proposition. It sped into her, hitting her shin with more velocity then she expected. She rolled her eyes, why did she always have to be the adult? Dee stepped closer to Charlie who was sitting on some junk he probably found in the trash or on the curb. She knelt to his level, putting her hand on his shoulder, he reluctantly looked into her eyes. “I know you're stressed Charlie,” She felt her cheeks heat up under his gaze, fighting the need to squirm, “Let's get a little break.”

“You promise you won't let anyone bash my skull in?” He asked, 100% genuine. Dee felt a smile appear on her face, what he lacked in conventional intelligence, he made up for in adorable idiocracy. 

“I promise.” She said.

“Pinky swear?” Charlie held out his dingy pinky finger, looking at her like his life depended on it.

Dee felt a warm tingle in her chest. For a minute, she thought she was about to have another heart attack, but the feeling wasn't painful. She stared into his eyes. They had a softness to them, there was something so comforting in the rich hazel hues. She moved her focus to Charlie's extended finger, the feeling growing even stronger and more intolerable. He was such a pinnacle in her life, she didn't realize it until she had gotten knocked up. For five years her and him would always ogle at each other while simultaneously stating the other was hideous. The two had always expressed a better understanding of each other then anyone else in the gang had ever. When they two began sleeping together in late september he solidified his position in her life and in her heart. She cared for him, more than she cared for anyone else, and it was scary, but she refused to lose him. Charlie is one of the only consistent people in her life, they always ended up searching for comfort in each other. It also helped that Dee was always amused by the man too. He has the kind of creative brain that brings such magic and interest to life, one that needed imagination to sustain it. Charlie had such unadulterated fun in his day to day life. Dee felt just a little more lost, and a little more at home, each time they were together. In all honesty, she was not sure who is supporting who in this scenario, it's almost certainly a bit of both.

He’d make a pretty good dad.

“Pinky swear.” 

☼

Charlie stood in front of her, arms crossed aggressively, and eyebrows pushed together defensively. “Absolutely not!”

“Goddamnit Charlie.” Dee pressed her hand to her head, she just wanted the two to relax for the first time since finding out about the pregnancy. They were at the spa, getting ready to go into the sauna in the changing room. Dee was in her robe, and her companions were thrown haphazardly on the floor. “Why can't you put on the damn robe?”

“I did Dee!” He argued back, looking like a child who had been sent to timeout. 

“Yeah, over your clothes!” He was going to be the death of her. “You're supposed to get undressed and then put the robe on.”

“What? No. I can't get naked in public.” He deflects uncomfortably, his attitude changing quickly from his angrier demeanor. 

Dee sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose trying to gather her thoughts to be more coherent. Charlie seemed like someone who would be relatively easy to read, but he was so much more complex than anyone gave him credit for. He was a deep and thoughtful individual, with various past traumas that shaped him into the man he was in the present. She needed Charlie to relax, if he continued to get so wound up he was about to emotionally explode. She sat on one of the wooden benches, motioning for him to come sit. He compiled, nuzzling his dirty face into the shoulder of her robe. She raised her hand to rub his back in circular motions. The two stayed like that for a while, Charlie taking increasing less large inhales, seemingly starting to calm down from his mini tantrum. 

“Wanna’ tell me what’s bothering you?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Charlie buried his face into her shoulder again, taking a moment to avoid the question and compose himself. Dee let him have his moment, knowing the more patient he was the more receptive he would be. 

“I just,” Charlie paused, shifting his head to the side so his ear was on her shoulder as he looked in the same direction as her, “I don't like getting naked with people…”

“Charlie, you and Frank walk around the sewer naked every day.” Dee told him, she said it compassionately, trying to signal to him it wasn't an attack against him, simply a statement.

“Yeah, but it's different, cause’ it's just me and Frank.” He fiddled with the robes tie endings, rolling them up and releasing them. “Someone I like, trust.” 

“Do you not trust me?” She delicately asked him.

“I do! I do. But there are more people then you here.” Charlie mumbled, disliking being vulnerable.

Oh, Dee saw the issue here. Charlie was scared someone would violate his personal privacy by seeing him naked if he undressed from traditional clothes in a public setting. Everybody knew Charlie had been molested, well at least all of the gang. The psychological scars from those years of abuse are a mix between obvious symptoms to discrete behavioral ticks. He didn't like to be touched a lot, which wasn't something Dee could fault him for, if she was in his situation she wouldn't want to be touched either. He also did not like people in his blind spots, especially when he was intoxicated (he wasn't at the present time, but it was something she noticed quite frequently) he would constantly be pivot turning blackout drunk, trying to see everything around him. It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad. 

Charlie felt Dee brush her soft manicured fingers against his back, then reached up and curled half way around his bicep. She gave his arm a squeeze, a reminder that no matter what, they were on each other's team. “I know it's hard Charlie, but I promise you will be ok, it will be much more relaxing.” Her vocal cords hummed against the top of Charlie's head, each word buzzing like a phone with its ringer off. “I promise.”

Godammnit Dee. Something about her gentle voice and soft hair made Charlie let down his walls without even realizing it. “Ok,” He said, his thoughts covered with a pink haze, “I will.”

☼

The sauna was weird, Charlie was indecisive about whether he was enjoying it or not. Dee sat next to him, her eyes closed. If anyone needed the spa, it was her. She was growing a goddamn baby for crying out loud! She needed to be cut some slack. 

Charlie appreciated Dee’s insistence to take his clothes off and wear a robe instead, if he was in his jeans at that moment he would have probably passed out from heat exhaustion. The robe allowed the steam room to be just warm enough to be comfortable and pleasant. While Charlie doesn't usually like doing things to ‘benefit his personal hygiene’ he was finding this experience to be fairly enjoyable. 

“Hey,” He said, his voice somewhat gravely from not talking for a while. “This is nice,”

He watched as Dee smiled, “Told you.” She said in a sing-songy voice.

“Thanks Dee.” His voice was heavy with sincerity, “This was really nice of you.”

Dee felt her heart palpitate, “I know.” She says with sass, trying to throw her own feelings off.

The two sat in a comfortable silence, at peace with each other's presence. They were the only people in the sauna, and frankly in the spa. Though, to be fair, most people didn't go to the spa in the middle of the day on tuesday. The sound of the steam was the only thing that broke the silence, giving a nice background ambiance. Dee felt her muscles relax and the knots slowly started to unravel themselves. 

“Dee?” Charlie’s whisper broke through the quiet.

“Yes Charlie?” 

“Dennis and them, they're all wrong.” 

“What?” She opened her eyes and looked at the sweaty man next to her, he was looking at her with sad puppy dog eyes. 

“They are wrong, they call you names and say you're ugly and shit but none of that is true.” He said, his hand wrapping around Dee’s arm to emphasize his seriousness.

“Yeah?” She asked, looking into his eyes trying to spot any deceit.

“Dee, you're a swan.” He tries to explain.

Dee felt an anger rise, “Why because I'm a bird?” She sassed as a defence mechanism.

“No because you're strong and powerful and beautiful.” He was looking her dead in the eyes showing her he was completely serious, “And you could kick my ass.” 

The warm tingling sensation returned, but this time it was a tad bit different. Now it felt like an insatiable heat under her skin. It felt weird, it was a mix between the strong feelings she's been developing emotionally with Charlie and being horny. She shifted on the wooden bench a bit, trying to clear her thoughts. But they remained. It didn't help that Charlie was practically wooing her, if it felt a little more genuine and like him she definitely would be all over him. Just like she was before she was pregnant. 

“Also cause’ you're a bird.” He adds with a wholeheartedly genuine smile.

Oh goddamnit. 

☼

Dee was royally fucked. 

“Look at this place, Dee! Look at the size of the place!” Charlie shook her, grabbing on her arm. The two of them were seated in a movie theater, the guys said the surprise party wasn't ready, so they needed to burn some time. He was uncharastically clean, though his clothes were covered in a familiar grime. At least he looked somewhat put together. “What does 3-D even stand for?”

Dee didn't respond immediately, she was too wrapped up in the fact she just realized she was desperately in love with him. With Charlie Kelly. He was illiterate, alcoholic, that didn't bathe, hasn't gone to a dentist in at least twelve years, used his fingers to count in his mid-thirties, constantly huffed toxic glue, ate cat food, walked around the philadelphia sewers completely nude, and slept in the same pair of long johns for upwards of six years. Yet, none of that mattered to her, she knew it was all true, and it was all pathetic and disgusting; but she still fell in love with him. All of it was just him, and if it was a part of him it didn't matter. Maybe she had been for a long time, she didn't know, but suddenly all at once sitting with him in the hot sap sauna, she came to the realization.

Totally royally fucked.

“Third dimension.” She responded, hearing the studio intros begin to play on screen. Then getting two pieces of gum out of her purse, giving one to Charlie, “Just... please stop talking.”

“Third dimen…” Charlie’s face contorted to a look of deep throat, “What dimension are we in?”

“Shh!” She hushed him as she could feel people glare. Look away assholes. The movie was about to start, “Charlie, I don't know.” 

“Isn't stuff, like, supposed to pop out at us?” He asked, pushing the slipping paper glasses back up his nose. 

“I don't know. I'm not sure. Let's watch and find out, okay?” 

“Whoa!” Charlie grabbed onto Dee once more as the 3D movie began to take action. He dodged the ‘approaching’ effects. While Dee was in shock too, having never before seen a 3D movie, though she wasn’t on her companions level of bewilderment.

“Did you see that?” He asked her, gripping on her arm tighter.

“Yeah. Yeah, I saw that.” She nodded, impressed by the development of technology. Charlie, on the other hand, was beginning to huddle into her, using both hands to wrap around her bicep, trying to comfort himself with her presence.

“That came, like, right at you. Is this safe?” He inquired in concern. 

“Are you kidding me?” Dee side eyed him out of the open gap in her 3D glasses. 

“I don't know!” He whined, still leaning against her.

“Take the glasses off if you're uncomfortable, okay?” She told him, her voice coming off more caring then she wanted to verbally express. 

Charlie did, he unlocked both hands from around Dee’s arm and used both of them to take off his glasses. He squinted his eyes, looking at the screen, “But then everything's, like, blurry.” 

“Then put the glasses on and shut the hell up.” 

“I don’t want to shut the hell up Dee! I can’t follow this movie at all!” 

“Goddamnit fine! Then let’s leave.”

Charlie seemed to be surprised she was willing to leave, especially when she insisted on bringing him here after the spa. He didn’t comment though, just nodded and the two stood up and went to leave the theater. 

The two walked side by side in silence for a while, Dee’s hormones still surging from the momentary spat they had in the theater. Dee quickly typed out a text to Dennis warning him that her and Charlie were on their way back to the bar, he texted back something about a dream book and said they where ready for them to return.

Surprisingly, it was Charlie who broke the silence. 

“Sorry I made us leave.” He apologized. 

Dee tried to ignore the urge to smile, as of late he had been taking more and more accountability for his actions and she had to admit, it was insanely attractive. Neither of them knew what position Charlie was going to hold in the baby’s life, but he had been really trying his hardest to make sure her needs were met. No one had ever really done that for her before. It was really nice.

“It’s okay Charlie.” She hummed, her hands grasping together under her increasingly growing baby bump. “If you didn’t wanna watch it there was no point in being there.”

Charlie smiled back at her, he looked over at her with an expression that was peculiar. Then, his arm wrapped around the small of Dee’s back and his hand went into one of her front jean pockets. His hands were way too big to fit but he made do. She felt the urge to comment, but when he pulled her close to him, his body like a space heater and his big hands trying to hold her close by taking up real estate in her pocket, she found the feeling soon melting away and the swooning becoming apparent once more. 

She was head over heels for Charlie Kelly.

Oops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided on the baby’s name and gender, I do think y’all will like it :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The waitress finds out and they guys curiosity is peaked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short and bad, if feel like jack kelly when his fake hands come off, screaming ‘nobody look!’ but i promise to make it up in the next chapter. the gang gets stranded in the woods is one of the longest episodes in iasip so its gonna be a very long chapter

5:00 pm  
On a Monday  
Philadelphia, PA

It was a quiet start to the evening, the spring weather in Philly particularly nice that day. Spring was in full swing, the trees blooming with delicate, tiny, flowers. The air felt cleaner on this particular day, rain the night before washing away some of the city's smog. It was warm, but had a gentle occasional breeze, ensuring the heat would not make you hot. Maybe it was just the excitement of the winter finally officially being gone, but it was actually one of the first truly picturesque days the city had ever seen. It was one of the most pleasant days to walk for Dee, usually, it was an unnecessary hassle on her. Now that she knew she was going to keep the baby, she began putting some money away to afford a new car so she wouldn't have to walk everywhere with a baby. It was weird walking around pregnant as is, she always felt people's eyes ogling her now that she was twenty-four weeks along, it was very apparent she was carrying a baby. She knew it would only be harder with a squirming baby in her arms. Well, probably not by the time they could fit in the baby Bjorn she had purchased earlier that day. In fact, she had spent most of her day shopping for baby stuff, she hadn't bought everything she needed but she bought a decent amount of clothes, bathing supplies, some decorations, toys, and a bassinet. She may or may not have swiped Frank’s credit card to pay for this all, but she figured he would begrudgingly accept it on account that the child was legally his grandchild. 

The bar was mostly empty, a couple of stragglers sitting around drinking beer, and Mac and Dennis seated at the bar with a bottle of tequila and shot glasses scattered around them. Normally, if Dee wasn't pregnant she would have immediately joined them, but as she progressed further into her pregnancy without drinking, she began to get a better perspective on how her drinking really affected her life. Dennis and Mac looked like they were getting pee-your-pants drunk at five in the evening. It was kind of embarrassing, to be in your mid-thirties and be this much of a drunk. Though that wasn't to say she didn't want to quit drinking, she craved alcohol constantly. She was considering breastfeeding, her doctor had told her about a bunch of crazy shit breastmilk can do, and she wouldn't be able to drink, obviously, if she did. Dee went behind the bar, putting her purse in a doorless cabinet to store it while she worked. Standing and meeting the glare of her intoxicated brother. 

“Dee you bitch.” Dennis greeted her again, slurring his words. The stench of hard liquor rolled off him, his eyes glossy out of inebriation, “Do you think that now that you're knocked up it's fine not to come to your job?” 

Dee rolled her eyes, putting a hand on her hip in an effort to get her bitchy attitude out correctly, “No you goddamn moron, but I had to do stuff.”

“Dee you're acting like we are an actual business,” Mac slurred, more intoxicated than Dennis. “You just have to come in or you don’t get paid.” 

“Why are you two shitface drunk at five?” She snapped back. For a moment she thought she had them, but Dennis was ready for her inevitable comment about their insobriety.

“Do-n’t change the-the subject bit-ch!” Dennis hissed at her while Mac mumbled something about a drinking game. The two men were getting blackout drunk over a drinking game at their grown ass age. 

“I was buying shit for my baby.” Dee bit back, beginning to get a rag ready to wipe the countertop down. She could practically feel the change in her brother's emotions. Dennis’s eyebrows shot up, he looked shocked at her response.

“You… you're, keeping it?” His face gave a look of an unfocused confusion. She tried to ignore his impending gaze, not wanting him to be a bitch about it. 

“Yes.” She responds bluntly. Sure-sound in her choice.

“Why?” Mac butted in, equally as shocked as her twin.

“Because I'm old and I want a baby now!” She shrilled, crossing her arms before adding, “I don't need to explain any of my decisions to you idiots.”

“Just keep it away from me.” Dennis pointed at her, his head swaying gently side to side. 

“Agreed,” Mac added. 

Dee didn't say anything, rolling her eyes and beginning to wipe the oak counter down with her sudsy wet rag. The two men began a new conversation with a different topic, as she continued to clean. That bar was sticky with spilled alcohol, she could feel the dried spills texture under her rag when she wiped over it. Mac barked a laugh, intruding on Dee’s thoughts. God, they did absolutely nothing, she, Charlie, and Frank carried Paddy’s. She wasn’t even sure if Dennis had ever cleaned anything in his life. Honestly, she was glad Dennis and Mac didn't want to be involved in the baby’s life, she didn't need her kid to have even worse bad influences than her. The two men were the most irresponsible and quick to rise out of the group. It was probably for the best if her child wasn’t exposed to either of their toxic traits, though, it still hurt her brother and his practical domestic partner didn’t want anything to do with their future niece or nephew.

It remained like that for a while, a relaxed ambiance filling the room. Dee couldn’t make out Dennis and Mac’s words, they spoke in hushed slurs. Not that she minded though, it wasn’t like those two could hold an intelligent conversation this inebriated (they hardly could in general). Some of the other random people in the bar had their own hushed conversations while nursing drinks. It was somewhat peaceful...

Well, until the door opened. 

Dennis and Mac turned to see who entered Paddy’s, Dee doing the same, still behind the bar. The three were greeted by a shy looking blonde woman. It took her a moment to realize who it was. The waitress stood somewhat timidly at the entrance, looking over all of them before walking forward. “Hi.”

Dee frowned. What was this? 

“Sup’.” Mac replied, trying to sound ‘like a badass’. It was sorta his brand of overcompensating by trying to have some mysterious and tough allure to him. 

She just nodded at him, acknowledging his greeting. She shifted her weight in her feet, looking nervous. Her chest expanded as she took a deep breath, then asking the group as a whole, “So, um, I haven't seen Charlie in a couple of weeks, and I'm just wondering like, did he die or something?” 

Huh? The waitress hasn't seen Charlie, in weeks?

“Really?” Dennis said, his interest peaked. Charlie was a creature of obsession and habit, it was unlike him to abandon something like the waitress for no reason, not after how much time he invested in stalking her. Charlie had watched the waitress since senior year of high school, he had for upwards of ten years. He clearly wasn't going to simply lose interest and drop it on his own, Something must have convinced him to do so.

“Yeah, it's sorta weird not having him watching me.” The waitress added uneasily, it was a weird feeling, being watched every day for years on end suddenly being alone. Maybe she found some comfort in knowing he was watching her, almost looking out for her, in his own fucked up and delusional way.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Mac asked, trying to not look completely intoxicated, though his eyes pandered in and out of an unfocused state. Dee could tell Mac was intrigued as well, he had known Charlie for so long, he knew how out of character this was. 

“Probably a month.” She said, sounding unsure. 

Before Dee could smother the idea and box it up forever, the thought of Charlie quitting stalking the waitress was related to her and the time they spent together a month ago on Frank’s birthday (at the time she thought it was his) came into her head. Could that be it? Was it bad that she wanted it to be? She was carrying his baby after all, maybe he felt the same way? She wanted to stuff all the warm feelings back in her little box of emotions, but her heart began picking up speed and her mind started to slowly fill with solely thoughts about the short dingy man. A gooey feeling filled the pit of her stomach, and a pink flush rising on her face. Dee had it bad, it was very embarrassing to admit to herself that she has such strong feelings towards someone. 

“Wow…” Dennis mumbled, spacing out on what to do. His hands placed on his face in a way to indicate he was in deep thought. This would require some more planning if he was going to pull off something his way. 

“That's so weird…” Mac agrees, flicking the empty shot glass with his pointer finger and thumb, a dull ping sounding off it, “Want a shot?” He asked the waitress, lifting up the glass.

A look of consideration passed on the waitress's face, then she gave a nod. Mac drunkenly poured her a shot, some of the alcohol spilling out of the rim. The waitress sat down at the bar, throwing the shot back instantaneously. Dee could visually see some of her stress melt away at the sting of the alcohol. 

“Honestly, that's really weird,” Mac said, taking Dennis’s leftover shot glass and pouring a shot of tequila for himself, drinking it in one swoop. 

“I know. It kinda freaks me out.” She reaches for the bottle from Mac, pouring herself another shot and hammering it back. 

“If you keep taking shots we are gonna have to charge you,” Dee commented, pushing back her cuticles with her thumbs nail in a nonchalant manner.

The waitress jumped momentarily, startled, seemingly just realized Dee was also there. She began sizing her up. She had a look of curiosity and almost anger on her face. Dee could feel her gaze fall to her stomach. The waitress did a double-take, then she pulled an angry face. “You bitch!” She snarled, her face turning irate. Dennis, Mac, and Dee’s expression all mirrored each other, surprised at how quickly her emotions shifted. 

“Huh?” Was the only thing Dee could say, she was somewhat blindsided.

“I can't believe you got pregnant before me!” The waitress’s face a deep shade of red. “You goddamn bitch!”

Dennis’s teeth bit his lip, trying to hold back himself from hysterically cracking up. Mac just looked very confused, not sure why the waitress was mad about that. Dee knew though, she had felt the same way when the waitress got engaged, it was just some insanely unrealistic standard the both of them tried to uphold for far too long. Dee was over their weird jealousy rivalry now that she actually understood the depth of the things she and the waitress competed for. The waitress, however, hadn't had the maturing moment of becoming explicitly pregnant and still had the burning drive to successfully outdo her.

“Ugh, god.” Dee rolled her eyes, “Whatever.” She turned around, beginning on wiping down the other side of the bar counter, trying to ignore the female guest's anger at her. Her rag was let’s sudsy and dirty but she needed an excuse to leave the conversation. The waitress, however, wasn't finished with the conversation, leaning forward and grabbing a fist full of her shirt fabric and pulling back aggressively. Jesus, the alcohol must have hit her a little quicker than normal. Dee gave a brief shriek, Dennis and Mac suddenly straightening up in concern. Even if the two acted like they had no concern over Dee, they weren't going to let a slightly tipsy woman beat the shit out of their pregnant female companion. 

“Woah, Woah, Woah!” Dennis butts in, raising his arms pushing in between them. The waitress released her grasp but had a look that could kill plastered on her face.

“What the fuck! I'm a six months pregnant bitch! Why would you do that?” Dee screamer, as she recovered her balance and turned to look at her attacker. The waitress said nothing, only giving out some grumble and crossing her arms. 

“You ruined my wedding!” She shouted back.

To be fair, she did, well, kinda, “Brad was playing you, bitch!” Dee reported, using the same profanities the waitress used on her. The waitress surprisingly didn't have anything to say, pulling an angry face and crossing her arms. Dee took it as a sign of defeat.

“So, Charlie isn't dead, right?” She changed the subject, turning to Mac and Dennis. 

“No,” Dennis responded, blunt as ever. 

“Well, good.” The waitress put both hands on the counter, pushing off with some force, now off her barstool and standing, “That's all I came here to ask.” She left with a wordless goodbye, walking past all of them and to the door. She turned back, looking over the group one last time before giving a roll of her eyes and leaving. The door closed with a thud, and suddenly Dee was the only woman left in Paddy’s.

“Jesus,” Dennis said, turning to look at his slightly battered sister.

“You're telling me.” She mumbled to her twin.

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening echoed against the bar walls again, Charlie and Frank emerging from the street. Both looked startled and confused. Frank was holding what appeared to be a bandana full of metal objects, then clinking against each other while they walked in. Dee assumed they had been in the sewer, and as the two approached, the pungent aroma took over her senses. Yep, definitely in the sewer. 

“Was that the waitress?” Charlie asked, sitting down next to Dennis, and Frank taking the seat next to him, placing the bandana full of miscellaneous objects on the table with a clank.

“Yeah, and she just said she hadn't seen you in a month, so what's up with that?” Mac’s voice wavered with an overarching slur. 

Charlie’s face quickly turned nervous, he stole a quick glance at Dee. She told herself to ignore the implications of it, but her heart was already thumping against her ribcage. He had looked at her when Mac asked. What if she was on the nose? What if he really did feel the same way? “Huh?” Charlie laughed nervously, gaining all around looks of confusion from the gang, “W-What are you talkin’ about?”

Dee resisted the urge to smack her forehead, Charlie was chronically bad at lying, it was very apparent he was trying to be misleading.

“You’ve been actin’ weird.” Frank nodded, now observing some of the items he had brought back up from exploring the sewer system. “Where's that blue ring you got?”

Charlie’s nervousness quickly changed to defensiveness, “I told you, Frank, I'm keeping it!” 

“Who you gonna give it to? Apparently not the waitress.” Frank responded gruffly.

His face turned a slight pink, “S-Shut up!” He stood up abruptly like the waitress, his face looking flustered and his eyes shying away from Dee’s direction entirely. Then storming out of the bar in an embarrassed huff. A beat of silence passed, all four of them looking at the now slammed shut door. 

“Something’s up with him.” Dennis grimaced, but with an odd look of morbid curiosity on his face as well. “And we are going to find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i watched the babies netflix docuseries, and there was a whole episode about food and breastmilk, that shit blew my mind. apparently breastmilk can like sense when a baby is sick and give it antibodies, gives the baby proper minerals from the mother's own storage of those in her body, and having a daughter makes a woman produce more breastmilk. there is a ton of crazy shit in that documentary, i highly recommend you watch it if you have even the slightest interest in children shits crazy


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Dennis go on an adventure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has smut in the end so idk don’t read if you don’t want to read semi graphic sex

3:30 PM  
On a Saturday  
Somewhere in Jersey

Charlie tended to do his best thinking in places one wouldn’t normally. 

The sewers always gave him a clean slate on his mind, letting the constant buzzing hum of his brain quiet as the sounds of his wet steps echo against the cement walls. His bad room always gave him a release, each fragment of glass crushing under his scuffed-to-shit sneakers would give him a weird power trip, the squeak of the breaking tiny shards giving him a rush. Now, as Charlie laid in the trunk of Frank’s car, a stifled heat settling in all over his body, getting increasingly hot in his suit, he was getting some pretty good thinking done. Charlie couldn’t see anything when he opened his eyes, a thin white cloth bag sat loosely around his head, his arms were bound in front of him, tightly, but not restrictively. He could feel the beads of sweat grow on his forehead, each growing heavy and falling down every couple of minutes or so.

He could feel it setting in, some form of pre-parental panic that had budded itself in his chest when Dee had told him she was keeping the baby. It had been blooming over the past couple months, and he could tell, today it was going to hit full effect. He was scared by his own attraction to the idea of being a father, nothing had scared him more in his entire life. Right now he’d rather bash a million rats then deal with this. With his bare hands too- well, maybe that was an overstatement. That was Charlie’s hang up, he was too sacred. Too sacred to ask for help, too scared to ask for advice, too scared to make a decision, too scared he would have it all and lose it just as fast. 

Suddenly, Charlie felt the car swerve, his head hitting against the front of the trunk, surely going to leave some form of bruise. The car bumped and spun, and an already disoriented Charlie now really had no idea what was going on. For a little while longer he continued to brace himself for another hit against the walls of the tiny trunk. He heaved a bit, feeling the cotton fabric stick to his wet lips as he inhaled and it blew away as he exhaled. While the car wasn’t continuing to move, he continued to huddle into himself, unsure if it was safe for him to relax or not. 

He could hear the doors opening from the echo of the slams on the car's hollow interior, so clearly they were leaving for somewhere. Maybe they had gotten to Atlantic City? Muffled voices broke out into an argument, the gang's conversation had devolved into a cat spat between the four.

“What gives is that we're in the middle of goddamn nowhere.” He heard Mac’s voice boom then the clicking sound of the trunk opening. Charlie, desperate to leave the increasingly claustrophobic trunk, gasped feeling the clean air hit fill his lungs. A cool and smog-free air settled over his body, despite his head being covered, he realized they were most definitely not in Atlantic City. 

Coughing, he gasped “What happened?” as Mac ripped the bag off his face as he sat up, his face scarlet and his hair stuck to his head with sweat “Are we in A.C?”

Dee began uniting his hand restraints, “No, we're not in A.C. because Mac wrecked the car, and now we're stranded somewhere.” Her voice was angry, but she gave him a small smile as she untied his restraints. He could smell the cheap alcohol based perfume she was wearing and sighed in relief, the aroma bringing him comfort. Dee assisted him as he climbed out of the trunk, careful not to throw herself off balance in her high heels. Charlie stumbled backwards next to Mac looking around at the copious amount of greenery, a flow of panic vigorously coursing through his veins. Thick green trees lined the road, large pine trees towering over their head bordering the sky.

This was definitely not Atlantic City.

“Oh, man! Oh. ‘Come to Atlantic City,’ you said. ‘Let us tie you up and put a sack on your head so you don't freak out. That'll be a good adventure,’ you said. Well, I'm freaking out a little bit!” Charlie yelled at the group, Dee was the only one who gave him a sympathetic look. His air stuck to his forehead was drying in the cool fresh air, his eyes wide under his loose bangs.

“Right. Relax. Relax, Charlie. This is gonna be a great adventure, this is exciting. This is the unknown. This is all part of it, man.” Dennis told him, his enthusiasm was coated with a casual demeanor. Charlie’s vision was somewhat spoty, so he couldn’t see the soft smile that was on Dennis' features, but he could hear the more optimistic tone of the younger twins' voices.

“Well, it ain't a great adventure to me. Riding on a private jet, sipping champagne... that's an adventure.” Frank informed the group with a snobby look showing on his face. Dennis and Dee looked almost offended, and Mac was angry. Frank yanked on the crotch again of a suit Charlie had never seen before. Maybe it was new?

“Then why didn't you fly us in a private jet to A.C.?” Mac asked aggressively, spreading both his arms out to emphasize his sour attitude. His lips picketed slightly in bitterness.

“It's only 80 miles. You know how quick that trip would be? Be a total waste of money.” Frank informed Mac who only rolled his eyes as a rebuttal to the former's question.

Charlie whined, the sky was a pure blue, the air clear from the city's pollution, “See, this is why I don't leave Philly, all right? You leave Philly, and bad shit happens. I mean trees? Everywhere trees? What the hell is this place!?” Shuttering, he looked around at their aggressively green surroundings, “All right, I'm hitching a ride back home.”

“Calm down, Charlie. Let's all walk, and we'll find some help, okay?” Dennis told the scruffy man, trying soothe him. It wasn’t working too well, as his body continued to stay fairly tense out of uncertainty. This was not the time for them to be stranded somewhere, especially at the panicked emotional state he was currently neck deep in. 

“I'm not walking, 'cause I got a baby on board, my feet hurt.” Dee rubbed her swollen stomach. She was now extremely pregnant, now in her third trimester at twenty-nine weeks, and it showed. She was very obviously heavily pregnant, her body had filled out more now that she was able to eat, her HG symptoms now fully elevated. Dee was gaining more and more weight, now finally getting to enjoy her pregnancy cravings of ice cream and potato chips. Her face was no longer as gaunt, her cheekbones were less visible due to the newfound fullness of her face; giving her a younger look. Dee was excited at her increase in size though, she was now finally getting the pregnancy glow. Because of her alcohol withdrawal and HG she looked sickly and tired for most of the beginning of her pregnancy, but now her body was fully taking advantage of her hormones. The big dark circles that had been around her eyes for these past few months had lessened. She looked much healthier now, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright, her hair now full and vibrant, no longer lank and lifeless around her face. Pregnancy was finally starting to agree with her, Dee felt naturally radiant, and looked it too. The doctor at the planned parenthood had shown her the pictures from her most recent sonogram a couple weeks early at her twenty-five week ultrasound, showing her an increasingly large baby. Apparently now her baby was the size of a head of cauliflower, she could feel it too, the more the baby grew, the more light kicks would pound against her stomach from the inside, as they got more and more cramped. Charlie felt his eyes zero in on her, he hadn’t gotten a good look at her yet, and the tight maxi dress she was wearing left little to the imagination. Not even in a sexual way, it hugged her in a way that showed her baby bump better than he had seen it besides when she pulled her shirt up at the ultrasounds. Maybe it was only because she had been continually wearing clothes that somewhat hid her figure, but the reality that very very soon he would have to make his decision felt like someone just hit him with a bag of bricks. The baby was coming, His baby was coming, and it was coming soon.

“Yeah, I'm not going anywhere 'cause this suit is, like, chafing me up like crazy.” Frank pulled at his crotch, the leather resisting to budge at his attempt to make the suit somewhat comfortable. It crinkled and rubbed audibly as he did so, trying to pull the thick creases out.

“Oh, Jesus.” Dennis rolled his eyes with more sass than a teenage girl, “All right. Mac and Charlie and I will go find some help, okay?”

“Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, except I'm not gonna go.” Mac interrupts motioning with his hands, lifting up his glove and showing his small crowd of onlookers, “I'm gonna hang back and oil up my glove.”

“Your glove?” Dennis sized up the closted homosexual, exasterbated “What is your endgame in this?”

“...I'm gonna have a catch with Chase Utley.” Mac said, voice barely over a mumble. He tried his best not to look completely embarrassed- it didn't work. 

“You... We got... Chase Utley is not gonna have a catch with you.” Charlie told Mac, earning a stricken look from his childhood friend. He wasn’t quite sure what was with Mac’s love for the baseball player was, but he figured it was a mix of repressed homosexuality and the desperation for affection that Mac had always been desperate for, Charlie remembered him, back when he was still ‘Ronnie’, curling up next to him every time they had a sleepover, very touch starved. He pitied his best friend's plight. 

“Listen, listen. We're gonna find help, okay?” Dennis put a hand on Charlie's shoulder, earning a slight flinch from the man. He was surprised to feel the twins tight grasp, and the momentary paranoia arose back in his chest- firmly grasping at his lungs. 

“Hurry up, guys. Hurry up, 'cause I got to get to Chase.” The adult man whined to the two, Charlie waved him off, Dennis leading him off the shadowed path and to the dirt road, leaving the three behind. For a while the two walked in silence, Charlie cautiously looked around, feeling very on edge in the new, lush surroundings. 

“Does the air taste weird out here or is it just me?” He asked Dennis, who just shrugged.

“No, it's just you. Listen, I know you have a lot of anxiety going on right now, but you gotta understand, we're both in uncharted waters right here. Wouldn't you say?” Dennis spoke to Charlie, who gave a nonverbal agreement with the man, “Hey, listen, you would consider me a pretty methodical person, would you? “

“Oh, yeah. Like a serial killer.” The words fell out of Charlie’s mouth before he had time to critically think about his response. He wanted to slap his hand over his face, covering his mouth. He didn't though, instead making his body rigid and stiff in fear. It wasn't like it wasn't true, Charlie sincerely thought the man was at the very least some kind of hypersexual sadist.

“Ha ha ha ha, serial killer.” Dennis responded to an increasingly nervous Charlie, who was regretting letting the honesty slip past his lips. But, to the shorter man’s intense relief, he then told him, “I like that. I like that. It's a little bit of an exaggeration, but I see your point. And I like it, I take it as a compliment.”

Yep, Dennis was most definitely a serial killer. 

“Well, listen. Sometimes, even I can't control everything, so when a new experience presents itself to me, I try to stay open to it and just say yes.” Dennis informed him, talking with the same charisma and poise as a self help guru. 

“Say yes, huh?” Charlie thought aloud.

“Yeah. Hey, let me show you something. Let me show you something. Look.” Dennis fiddles with his neatly ironed collar, pulling at the bow tie as well.

“Huh.” Charlie noticed the skin on Dennis’s face was slightly tanner than his neck, he looked over the man's jawline carefully before realizing, “You’re wearing makeup?”

“Yeah, I'm always wearing a little bit of foundation, but that's not the point, Charlie.” Dennis informed him, finally yanking his collar far enough down for Charlie to see a large purple bruise on his neck. “What do you see there?”

Looking over the mark more carefully. It was a dark purple mixed with a dark mustard colored yellow underneath. The edges were turning a light brown, the cells healing the tiny broken capillaries and leakage of red blood cells. It looked very out of place on the otherwise completely put together man, and Charlie, unsure of what it could be, put the pieces together on his own. Charlie yelped, “Oh, shit! You got a lesion, dude!” 

“No, it's not…” Dennis momentarily trailed off, clearly annoyed at Charlie’s naivety. Dennis was used to being praised and admired by Mac at his sexual exploits, he was not accustomed to his actions not being seen as anything other than dripping with sexual prowess. “That's not a lesion. It's a hickey.”

“Oh.” He responded blankly, earning another annoyed sigh from his company.

“You’ve never seen a hickey?” Dennis asked him, a slight and purposeful sting to his words, his face warming in an ingressing anger. Dennis tried to ignore the age-old and somewhat forgotten feeling of embarrassment, something he tended not to feel. Charlie’s misinterpretation was a hit to his pride, and he did not like that at all.

“No, I have.” Charlie ignored his brain's vivid flashbacks to the last day of October of last year, the image of Dee’s sweaty face fresh in his memory. Despite the mother of his child giving those notorious purple bruises to him, Charlie was well aware that the gang as a whole had significantly outgrew having or giving hickies, “Ew! Weird! I thought women our age didn't give hickeys anymore.”

“Oh, no, they don't.” Dennis gave Charlie a smile that made his stomach twist in an unsavory way, making his forearms cover in a blush of goosebumps. “Young ladies do, though, and I met an extremely young lady the other day, and she gave me this.”

“Weird.” Charlie mused, the two of them were in their mid to late thirties and living completely different lives. Each night over the past eight months Dennis prowled after a girl who bordered on her late teens, and Charlie threw up off the fire escape of his apartment out of sheer nervousness of his child's arrival. He wondered if Dennis was presented with the same situation he was in, would he grow a pair of nuts and take care of the kid? Would he leave the woman flat on her ass? Would he be as indecisive as Charlie was?

“No, she was legal. She was totally legal. I always check their licenses.” Dennis cuts into his thoughts, trying to make his sexual exploits seem less creepy to Charlie. 

“That's not the point. The point is, how did I meet this young woman? Well, I got caught unexpectedly in a rainstorm one day, so I retreated into a local theater. There, I caught a matinee. And during this matinee, I saw this young woman. I introduced myself, and we both got caught up in the moment, and we said yes to the new experience, and that's how I wound up with this wonderful and very sexual hickey.” Dennis explained to him.

“Oh.” Charlie responded. 

“You see what I'm saying about adventure, Charlie?” The man asked him. Dennis wasn’t the best dude, but he seemed to do pretty well for himself. Maybe he could take a page or two out of his book. Truly he had never thought about the world that way, maybe he did need to open his life to new experiences. Clearly he wasn’t in control of his life, the unplanned pregnancy a fairly good example of that, maybe if he rolled with the punches more he could get more of what he wanted. So.. if he just said yes to everything he would be opening his life up to so much more opportunity.

“Yeah, you always say yes to everything!” He nodded, now agreeing with what Dennis was saying. It had started to make so much sense to him, if he allowed whatever presented itself to him to just happen, for him to just say yes, his life would be so much easier. 

“Well, no, I don't always say yes.” Dennis shakes his head, disagreeing with Charlie's apparent misinterpretation, “That's absurd. I'd be a dead man, wouldn't I, if I said yes to everything?”

Charlie, though, ignored Dennis’s response, his focus instead on an approaching cargo truck that was parked on the desolate back roads, “Oh, shit, dude. Look at that truck right there.”

“Oh, yeah!” Dennis soon shared in Charlie’s excitement.

“You think there's someone in there?” He asked Dennis who stopped walking and gave him a smug look.

“Well... what do we say in this scenario, Charlie?” Dennis asked him, knowing he knew the answer.

“We say yes!” He responded, nodding enthusiastically.

“We say yes.” Dennis mirrors, proud to have actually maybe taught something to Charlie. The two still took some caution when approaching the drivers side. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his dress pants, a nervousness he had developed. Dennis gave him a glance before sighing, realizing he was going to have to do the majority of the talking.

“Hiya.” Dennis says gaily, as he knocks on the side of the truck door, “Sorry to wake you up there. Sorry.”

The trucker snorted as the end of a snore was cut off by his abrupt end to sleep, “What do you want?” He asked, Charlie couldn't figure out if the bite in his voice was sleep deprivation or true bitterness, but he didn’t interrupt Dennis in an attempt to follow his say yes to everything advice. 

“Oh, uh, our car broke down a little ways back, and we were hoping maybe you could help us out.”

“Oh, I could, uh, radio that in and get you a tow truck out here, but I'm about to hit the road myself. You can always hitch a ride with me.” The trucker told them with a gravelly tone.

“Oh.” Dennis’s eyes darted to Charlie, a scheming smirk beginning to appear on his lips, “Uh, where you headed?”

“Atlantic City.”

Dennis and Charlie looked at each other at the same time, both practically on the same page. Dennis simply wanted nothing more than to rub elbows with the rich and famous athletes that would be at the animal rights event. He just wanted to gamble and drink all night. To be fair, that’s what Charlie wanted to do too, but the added pressure of his very soon approaching adult responsibilities and wanting to get as far away from his own life as possible, even if just for a while. Both men wanted to leave, and both had their own reasons, but both agreed with a smile; and climbed into the cargo truck that was Atlantic City bound.

☼

“Yeah, well, that was definitely an adventure, huh?” Charlie nudged Dennis with his elbow as the walked into the casino, having just fled from the trucker who was probably going to try and rape them. Not that it would have been something that hadn’t happened to him before, but he was glad he didn’t have to go through it again. 

“Yeah, well, sometimes the adventures aren't always good ones.” Dennis says, still slightly unsettled by the events that had just transpired. Charlie held back a ‘now you know how it feels’ and opted to not add any snarky remark.

“Yeah, but I said yes to the new experience, right? I'm out of Philly, I'm alive, and I'm not afraid of truckers anymore.” Charlie listed the positives, a smile on his face as they approached a gambling table in the large room full of slots and dealing tables. 

“Yeah, well, if anything, you should be more afraid of truckers now. But I do see your point. Hey, listen, I'm gonna try and get in touch with the guys, okay?” Dennis shrugs, patting down his person momentarily, mumbling something. While Dennis was busy trying to find his phone, Charlie approached the table and brought into the impulsive urge to gamble all his money on the color black, he hadn’t ever done anything like that before, so saying yes to the new experience was something he had to do- especially if the person who taught him what was still with him. Charlie told the man to put all his money on black, and the man (after looking at him like he was crazy) nodded, fulfilling his request.

“Aw, shit!” Dennis hissed, shaking Charlie’s shoulder to get his attention, “Dude, I left my jacket in the truck. I had everything in that jacket. I had all my money, I had my phone... do you have any money?” He asked, looking somewhat panicked. 

“Uh, yeah, it's all right there.” Charlie pointed to the table with a grin, proud of his gambling choice, “I put it all on black.” 

“What? No, no, no, no, no!” Dennis wails, gripping the edge of the table while looking in horror. The last of their money was up to random chance, and if they lost he was most definitely not going to be happy about it. 

“Black wins!” The man behind the table smiles at them, looking genuinely pleased that they won, it wasn’t often someone would bet it all and win. 

“Oh, phew!” Dennis took a sigh of relief, thankful all of their money hadn’t disappeared in the blink of an eye, “All right, but that was lucky, that was lucky.” 

“Yeah, I know, but you know what, dude, you were right... I said yes to this little adventure and I won!” Perhaps Charlie had been too harsh over the years to Dennis, sure the man was a predator and a self absorbed asshole, but he clearly understood how to make a meaningful (or at the very least, fun) existence. He definitely needed to take into consideration what the twin said more, because clearly it was working. 

“Would you like to bet again, sir?” The man behind the table asks Charlie, who nods excitedly. 

“Yes, I would.” He smiles, his serotonin levels soaring from his victory, all too Dennis’s dismay.

“No. No. No!” Dennis tried to cut in, but Charlie was having none of it, saying yes was working better than he had ever anticipated. He was sick and done with missing things because he was too scared to try, and now he was taking full advantage of his newfound confidence.

“Let it ride, please.” He smiles at the man behind the table who obliged. Charlie looked at his company, “Dude, I am gonna say yes to everything!”

“We can't say yes to everything.” Dennis shrills in concern, sounding like his sister on an almost uncanny level, “That is all of our money, dude.”

“No, it's all my money. You lost yours when you said no to the trucker.” Charlie crossed his arms dramatically, trying to better emphasize his confidence. 

“What? Did you want to say yes to the trucker? Did you want to bang the trucker in the motel?” Dennis asked, appalled. He was shocked that Charlie had interpreted that event as such. 

“I don't know, we say yes to the trucker. we go to the motel room, he passes out, dies and we walk away with a free 18-wheeler.” Charlie reasons, shrugging. He wasn’t sure why Dennis was complaining when it was him who had given him the advice to say yes, clearly it was working.

“Dude, we are gonna lose all of our money!” Dennis scolds him, pulling at his hair out of stress.

“Black wins again!” The man behind the table announced getting both of the men's attention. Dennis and Charlie both raised their eyebrows in shock. Charlie’s face burst into a smile, an overwhelming wave of pride washing over him. He gave a loud chuckle and wide grin.

“Oh, baby! Whoo! Yes! Yes, yes!” Charlie whooped and hollered at his victory, “Let it ride, please. Let it ride.”

“Okay, okay, yeah.” Dennis nodded, now seemingly in more belief of Charlie’s choice, sinking next to Charlie at the side of the gambling table, more and more suresound in Charlie’s ideas, “Let it ride.”

☼

“I mean, I never thought I would hold $15,000.” Charlie looked like a kid on christmas, holding the money in stacks of one hundred dollar bills in his hands. He was shocked when the casino offered to pay that much money in cash, but he surely didn’t have any issue with it. Not to mention the people passing him ogling at the large sum of green cash in the scruffy man's hands. Dennis was walking next to him wearing an equally proud look, his head held up high. 

“Amazing, bro.” Dennis said, throwing his arm over Charlie’s shoulder in a chummy way as they continued to walk, “Listen, I thought I was teaching you today. Let me tell you something, my friend, you were teaching me.”

The pair continued forward into the large event room packed with people who were just as dressed up as the two of them. Not many actual famous people seemed to be there, if there was neither Dennis nor Charlie recognized them. The crowd consisted mostly of upper middle class and lower upper class white people, most likely dressed in the best clothes they owned, much like the two men. They walked next to each other, passing in between clusters of people conversing about boring small talk things like the weather or sports. A spiced aroma filled the room, causing the two hungry men to quickly look around the room for the buffet Frank promised them that would be at the event. The two approached the table, Charlie shoving the stacks of green paper in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

“I know. I mean, look at all this amazing food!” He smiled, waiting behind some ladies getting their own plates. 

“Oh, I'm starving!” Dennis responded, the whole gang had been fasting for the event so they could eat more at the buffet. He was pretty sure even a pregnant Dee did, but it couldn’t have been too different the first four months of her pregnancy where she was virtually unable to eat solids.

“Yeah. They got stuff I've never even seen before. What is that?” Charlie asked Dennis as he examined the long table full of food. But before either of them could answer his question, a woman holding a clipboard and dressed nicely approached them. 

“Hi, there. You two are with the Reynolds party, yes?” She asked, looking at both of the men with a smile on her face. 

“Yeah.” Charlie answered, and upon realizing he sounded unsure added another confirmation, “Yes.”

The lady seemed happy to hear that, smiling even wider “Is one of you Frank?”

“Oh, actually, uh…” Dennis began, clearly at odds at what to say, his eyes darting from Charlie to the woman as his brain short circuited as he tried to come up with something.

“Yes.” Charlie cut in, sounding awfully confident, now apparently seizing the opportunity and assuming Frank’s identity. 

“Hi, Mr. Reynolds.” She stuck out her hand for Charlie to shake as an introduction, “I'm Debra, we spoke on the phone?”

“Yes. Yes.” Charlie nodded, acting like he just remembered her voice. Then, returning the gesture and shaking her hand. Dennis staired with wide vi

“Well, now, I know you'd like to say a few words. Is it alright if we have you up to speak now?” The lady asked with her pearly white smile.

Shit. The two had completely forgotten 

“Uh... Yes, it is. Great. Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” Charlie nodded over again, truly saying yes to this moment. 

The woman looked very pleased, motioning for the two to follow her up to the stage. Charlie and Dennis shared a glance as the two somewhat reluctantly followed. The younger twin was giving Charlie a look of skepticism mixed with curiosity. Soon they found themselves staring out into the crowd, as the lady who had brought them up grabbed the mic. 

“Mr. Reynolds here is one of our largest new donors.” She said with her face pulled back in a well rehearsed smile, beefing out into the crowd, “Well, it's donors like him that makes our work for animals possible!”

The crowd enthusiastically applauded, the room echoing with each person who clapped, bouncing around the walls of the dining hall. 

“Thank you. Thank you. I am Frank Reynolds. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes. Yes. That's the word I want to talk about…” Charlie trailed off, scanning over the crowd to try and get a read in them. By the looks of their slightly confused expressions he realized he was getting off track, “But first, let's talk about animals. Yeah. If animals have taught me anything, it's that you can easily die, and very quickly, under a bus and on the side of the road.”

The lady who had brought them up there and many people in the crown grimaced at Charlie’s lack of delicateness, but nonetheless, no one interrupted him as he continued on: “Yes. Okay? So you have to live in the now. Live in the now! Mm-hmm. I'm gonna live in the now. I'm gonna donate another $5,000 to this charity right now!” 

Charlie quickly shuffled through the stacks of money he had, eyeballing a couple thousand dollars, yanking the free half the stack out of his grip and throwing it into the air dramatically. Each bill floated to the ground, twirling and twisting down its descent. The crowd cheered and clapped, but it was obvious the man's erratic behavior was somewhat off putting, but most of them probably just assumed Charlie was some eccentric millionaire who had a weird time of showing his generosity.

“Oh! Oh! That's a…” Clearly the charity lady was surprised by his actions, her eyes following the falling airborne money as it made its descent to the carpeted casino floor. “That's too generous.”

“This is for the rats!” Charlie hollered, throwing up the remaining amount of the five thousand up in the air, the bills scattering about. 

“Take it easy.” Dennis lowly hissed in his ear, trying to give the man a reality check. He was not in the mood to lose the money that Charlie had won, especially not to these rich pompous animal lovers. 

“For the rats, people!” Charlie preached to the crowd, his donation now haphazardly strewn around the three on the stage, some of the money closer to the people sitting at their tables. To both the mens surprise, everyone had left the bills alone, neither of them would have done so, but maybe that’s why they didn’t tend to be at events like this. Charlie acknowledged Dennis’s concern, speaking in a quieter voice, “Okay. Yeah, yeah. And I'm done.”

“Good, good.” Dennis whispered back, looking less tense then he did while the money was being tyson about. The two began to start getting off the stage, but the woman stopped them. 

“Uh, Mr. Reynolds, there's one more thing. Per your request, we were able to arrange a surprise night for your friend with two true all-stars of our organization…” The lady told them, then on perfect and almost comical timing the two celebrities joined them on the stage, both of the men’s eyes bulged out of their eyes at the realization at who the two celebrities were, “Chase Utley and Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies.”

For a moment the two seemed to lag out, both staring blankly at the two baseball players, starstruck. Neither could believe that the two sport celebrities were actually there, directly in front of them. It seemed almost too ironic that the one time that people in the gang actually got to meet Chase Utley it was not with Mac. 

“Hi.” Dennis uncharacteristically nervously squeaks out, a light blush growing on his cheeks. 

“Mac, right?” The baseball all star asked Dennis, a charismatic and genuine smile on his face.

“Uh…” The twins eyes momentarily glanced at Charlie, then followed in the latters footsteps “Yes.”

“I hear you're my number one fan.” The charming smile remained. Charlie and Dennis could hardly hold their faces, fearing the dramatic jaw drop to be far too dramatic. Mac was going to kill the both of them. 

“Yes, I am.” Dennis said, now assuming his totally ‘not-homoerotic’ besfriends idenity. “Hi. Hi. What's up, brother. All right. Oh, my goodness.” Dennis smiled, his cheeks a glowing pink, excited.

“All right, let's get crazy. Let's get crazy.” Charlie smiles at the three, earning a quick glance between the two baseball players. He couldn’t decipher the look but decided to let it go, looking at Dennis who only cemented his feelings.

“Let's get nuts, you guys!” Dennis nodded to the group, then led them off the stage, “Go get nuts, guys.”

☼

Three hours and way too many drinks later, an extremely drunk Dennis was playing catch with Chase Utley, effectively taking his best friend's dream. Charlie would have had a more intellectual thought about it, but he was far too intoxicated to care. Ryan Howard was seated next to him, looking slightly uncomfortable. The two baseball players were off put by the amount of alcohol the two men had managed to drink over the course of the night. Despite the nights lucky and unceremonious events, Charlie found his mind going back to thoughts of his real problems, even the haze of alcohol and the money he had won haven’t removed the ever persistent thoughts of panic that lingered in his mind day in and day out. No matter what, Charlie realized, he wouldn’t be able to escape this issue. This was the problem he couldn’t wish away, he couldn’t escape.

He needed help.

“Hey man.” Charlie’s drunk tone became more stagnant and serious, different from the slurring he had been giving the baseman earlier, “Y-You have like, a kid right?” 

Ryan Howard’s brow cautiously raised, before he looked him over one more time and told him, “Yeah, why?” 

In Charlie’s intoxicated state those words crashed a wave of relief over him. To Chase Utley and Rob Howard, he wasn’t Charlie Kelly, he didn’t have all the negative connotations, the pressure, the backlash of being himself. To them, he was Frank Reynolds, just some dude who liked animals and drinking. 

“Cool. Cool.” Charlie tried his hardest to look nonchalant, hiding the fact he was in any sort of panic, “Have one coming myself.” 

That statement surprised Ryan, his eyes going wide in temporary shock, to be fair, if he heard that from himself he would be fairly surprised as well, “Congrats man.” He said, giving Charlie a shake of the shoulder in show of his support.

“I-I-I was just wondering,” Charlie began, fiddling with his thumbs, the nervousness now consuming him enough to outwardly show, “Like if you have any advice?” His voice became higher pitched at the end, it was in an drunken attempt to make it easier to distinguish it as a question. 

Ryan gave him a genuine smile, the man looked pleasantly surprised at his question. Maybe it was the fact that he was nervous, it showed the first baseman that he was genuinely concerned about the wellbeing of his future child. “Sure Frank, what d’you want to know about?” 

For a second, Charlie’s mind filled with a million inquiries at once, he felt an overwhelmed sensation momentarily plugging his ears. He fidgeted with the belt loop on his dress pants, trying to figure it his first question without throwing up out of sheer uneasiness. Ryan didn’t make any effort to try to get him to talk, he calmly was allowing the soon-to-be father to gather all of his thoughts. Charlie felt his eyes unconsciously move to Dennis, who was currently taking Mac’s dream of having a catch with Chase Utley. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it finally seemed to set in for him, that was his son's uncle. Dennis Reynolds was his in utero childs only biological family. Sure they had Bruce, but he disliked his two children, Charlie wasn’t even sure if he’d ever find out he was to be a grandfather. 

“How do you tell people you know that you’re going to be a dad?” The words seemed to fall out of Charlie’s mouth, a culmination of him trying to repress his need to talk to someone about this over the course of the past eight months. 

Ryan raised an eyebrow, “Who have you all told?” 

Charlie felt embarrassed, not wanting to admit the whole truth about his less than favorable actions. To tell him that he had been avoiding telling anyone and constantly ignoring his baby mother was probably not a good look. But he knew advice based on lies wouldn’t help him, so he admitted the truth to the baseball player, “No one.”

Ryan took a deep breath, sharing a compassion for Charlie’s situation. While he didn’t know the intricate details about the circumstances that had led him not to tell anyone, he could tell it was eating him up, and wanted to help give a new father some advice. “It’s going to be hard. You have to accept the truths about your life first, then it will be easier to come clean.”

Charlie tilted his head like a confused dog, “What do you mean?” 

“Before my son was born, I had to come to terms and accept a lot of things about my life I'd rather ignore. I realized a lot about myself so when my son came I would be emotionally and financially stable for him.” Ryan informed the shorter man.

Charlie truly hadn’t thought about that too much, only worrying about it. He hadn’t done an in-depth analysis of his feelings towards the pregnancy, only that they made him feel panicked and scared him to think about. But, Ryan was right, no matter what happened with the role of him in Dee’s baby’s life, he needed to pull himself together and be aware and conscious of his feelings, it was only fair to everyone else that he could better articulate how he felt. 

But, how did he feel?

“Frank,” Ryan started, giving him a very serious look. “I know you’re nervous, that’s good, it means you care.”

He couldn’t help but feel a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. He had never really thought about his panic about the pregnancy like that before, it made him feel a little less guilty. 

“I’m going to tell you, from a person who didn’t plan to have kids for a while, no matter how unpredictable life may be, it will always give you the opportunities to fulfill something you need. I needed a family, and I got one.” Ryan’s eyes had a light watery sheen over them, he was getting emotional talking about his son and experience with having him. “Don’t let a family pass you by because you want to be immature. I'm not saying you are, but i’ve seen other guys walk out, that’s a shitty move. Man up and accept your new role as a father.” 

Charlie nodded, he knew Ryan was right. He didn’t grow up with a father, and look how shit went for him. He didn’t want his kid to grow up with only a mom because he was too much of a wimp. He needed to step up and be the person he never had, to finally grow into a part of him he never expected he was going to tap into. He was sacred, but he was ready.

“Trust me man, out of all the things i’ve ever done, being a father is most fulfilling.” Ryan smiled at him. 

If he was going to do this, like, really do this, he needed to start working his ass off. Dee was a phenomenal woman, but he was really doubtful about her ability to raise this child with little support. Dennis and Mac wanted absolutely nothing to do with her and the new baby, and from what he knew Frank was just avoidant and aloof whenever the topic was brought up. Dee would need some financial support, she didn’t make enough money to make her rent, not like it mattered because Frank paid it for her. But she would need a bigger apartment, hers was only a one bedroom, and as the kid grew they would obviously need their own bedroom. Would Frank pay her rent for a new and bigger apartment? What if he didn’t? Charlie didn’t want his child sharing a room with his mother for the rest of his life because Dee couldn’t afford it. Maybe he needed to pick up another job? He could, and most definitely would. 

“You’re going to really need to start being completely transparent with yourself.” Ryan’s voice was deep, his words clearly meant to be taken completely seriously, “You can’t keep lying to yourself about stuff, you need to become a better person for your kid.”

Charlie’s eyebrows pressed together, slowly processing what the man had said to him. 

Dee.

He needed to be honest to Dee. About Dee. He needed to stop hiding things from her and himself. Charlie knew their relationship was far different than what it started, which was something to be expected, however unexpectedly, a deep and new feeling took hold. What Charlie felt towards Dee was unlike any affection he had felt before. It was different then his sickening obsession with the waitress, it was different than his mother's care, it was different then everything he had experienced, and he cherished it. Dee was more then just some chick to him, she was probably his best friend, who understood him in ways no other person could. Not Mac, not Frank, definitely not Dennis, nobody. What he and Dee had going on was precocious and delicate and special. He wanted to protect it, from all the harsh realities in their world, protecting it from his fear of his love being reciprocated. He wants to hold it close, but not close enough to let it hurt him if it all wilted and died. Charlie loved Dee, wholeheartedly and truly, and it was terrifying, but exhilarating, too. In some strange, new, crazy, way. 

“You’re right.” Charlie slowed down his speech, trying to string his words in a way to make him sound sober. 

“Damn right I'm right.” Ryan smiled at him, his words spoken encouragingly.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while, Charlie’s brain capacity blocked with thoughts of all the things he needed to do, taking each one out of his scrabble of thoughts and giving it individual consideration. Ryan nursed his first and only drink of the night, a vodka cranberry, in silence, allowing Charlie his time to sort out his thoughts inwardly. The baseball player watched Dennis and Chase as they finished up their game of catch, the former was clearly done interacting with the drunken man, his face wore a look displaying his tiredness well. 

“Well,” Chase Utley said, his stress covered with a charismatic tone, “I have to go for the night, and I’m sure Ryan does too.” 

Charlie could tell Ryan wasn’t having as an unpleasant time as Chase, but was thankful for the cop out anyway, “Yeah, Chase is right. We have training tomorrow.” 

Neither of the men knew if the baseball players were being honest or not, but Dennis was too drunk to notice and Charlie was too thankful to Ryan to care. Besides, there was a reason the gang weren't social butterflies, not many people outside of their little group seem to like them that much. 

“Well, you know, it's been great, fellas, but, uh, we're gonna take off now.” Chase said, earning a shocked look from an extremely intoxicated Dennis.

“Oh! Really? You guys gonna go?” Dennis pulled his voice high and squeaky, thinking that this made his words easier to understand as a question. It didn’t, it only made him look like a high pitched drunk idiot.

“Yeah, you guys, try not to hurt anybody tonight, okay?” Ryan told the two, less worried about Charlie then the drunken and belligerent, Dennis. 

“Nah, dude, nah.” Charlie peaked up from his spot, straightening out his back and trying to temporarily push some of the thoughts to the sidelines for a moment. He shook his head, looking both of the men in the eyes, seemingly gaining enough confidence to do so while promising them he would ensure the two would stay out of trouble. “No, no, no, we're good, dude. We're good, dude.” 

Dennis nodded, agreeing with Charlie. He was going to say something, but a slurred garbled mess was all that came out, so he shut up. Ryan aporached Charlie, who had stood from his seat. He shook his hand silently, giving him an anonymous final reassurance, encouraging him to take his advice about fatherhood. 

“You guys take care, okay?” Chase said, shaking Charlie’s hand as well. 

The two baseball players tried to do the same to Dennis who in return gave them a whiskey dick of a handshake and mumbled a very intoxicated, “Yeah. All right.”

Charlie and Dennis watched the two go, leaving the now vacated casino dining hall. A janitor worked in the back, vacuuming the red carpeted floor. Charlie pulled up a seat next to the one he was previously occupying and for a while the two sat in silence, the hum of the industrial vacuum cleaner the only sound in the room.

“Boy, that was a…” Dennis started, taking an exasperated sigh. “ ...hell of a night, man.”

Charlie stifled a chuckle, instead just looking over at his companion, “Hell of a night, man.”

“Hey, how much money do we have left?” Dennis’s tone has the illusion of being an offhand remark, but Charlie knew him for long enough to know he was brewing some semblance of a scheme up in his head.

Charlie considered the question for a moment, feeling his hand subconsciously reach into his pocket and grasp at the amount of money he had. Ten, goddamn, thousand dollars. All in cash, sitting in his suit pocket like it wasnt the most amount of money he had ever owned. He could pass it over to Dennis, let him do whatever ridiculous convoluted plan he had in mind. Or.. he could keep it. He did win the money, technically it was all his. He knew Dennis didn't see it that way but Dennis also had some disposable cash most of the time, Carlie had literally no money. On a normal occasion, pre-baby fiasco, he would have handed over the money; only now he had a life to take care of. A child with needs, and a child that's going to cost a hell of alot of money...

“I got nothing.” Charlie answered Dennis, lying through his teeth, “What about you?”

Dennis shuffled through his pockets, bringing some money bundled up with a rubber band. He mumbled something angrily under his breath while counting up the wrapped up and curly dollar bills slowly, trying to not lose the correct number in his drunk haze. 

“$400. That’d get us back to Philly right?” The twin asked Charlie who shrugged as a response.

“I dunno.” Charlie felt bad for a second, but the thought of the debt, him and Dee would be post baby, eh, he felt a little better.

“Ugh.” Dennis groaned, wiping his hands over his face in a exasperated manor, “Let's go see.”

☼

A static ring filled his ears, Dennis watched him from his bar stool seat, suspect. Charlie didn't know what overcame him but by the time he dismissed himself for the wet bar that was situated right outside their gate, he was already at the payphone putting money in and the phone up to his ear. Dennis stalked his moves, something was most definitely up.

“Hello?” His mother’s voice sounded distant and crackly, but hearing it brought him some weird form of relief.

“Mom.” Is all Charlie could say, the tears building up in his eyes. He needed to power though this, no more messing around, it was time to step up and be the dad he never had. 

“Charlie?” Her soft voice asked. 

“Mom, i’m in love with Dee.” Charlie told her, he was glad he didn't have to see her face contrast in confusion, he could see the outline of the expression in his brain. 

“Wha- Sweetie i'm a little confused?” His mother had some faint, distant idea about the waitress, but Charlie had never told his mother those words with such certainty. It was striking to say the least, and his mother was definitely interested in where this conversation was going to go. “Dee?’ His mother asked, clearly getting more and more confused, “As in Deandra Renyolds?” 

“Yep.” He popped the p, trying to make it sound like he didn't take seven shots just to be able to have this conversation. He let his words sink in. 

“But..Frank...and…” His mother sputtered, honestly, he was expecting that reaction. The familial lines between the Kellys and the Reynolds become often too blurry around the time each of the now grown children were conceived. 

“Listen Mom, it's better if you don't think that hard about it.” He told her, glazing momentarily at Dennis, who was watching him from the bar. Suddenly, the methodical man’s face reminded him of the night he let everyone think Dennis was the father of Dee and His baby, making sure to tell his mother, “Frank’s not their real Dad.”

“Wha-” Bonnie began, now even more confused.

“I'll explain it when I get home.”

“What? Where are you?” 

Charlie resisted the urge to groan at his mother, he needed to act as mature as possible, despite his very abundant annoyance at his mother's somewhat lack of understanding; “Atlantic City.”

“What?” 

Oh my god if she asked him one more question he was going to blow up. He just needed her to shut it and listen to his paternity bombshell. “God mom, do you have to ask so many questions? I put two quarters in here. I don't think I have that much time to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“She’s pregnant.” Charlie blurted out, gaining a curious look from the woman having a conversation on the phone next to him. He said, his chest feeling immediately lifted. For a moment, the high of relief filled him. The burden was no longer solely on him. He pushed his shoulders back, trying to shift some of the extra effort stress in his body around. He never removed the phone from his ear though, he knew he needed to continue to spill his guts to everyone he knew.

“What?!”

“She’s pregnant.” Charlie said, slower this time, giving both words weight.

“What do you mean pregnant?” Bonnie seemed to be struggling with the concept. There was a note of shock tinged with anger in her voice. Although, how often do you find out your grown son with the emotional maturity of a middle schooler who just got myspace is going to be a father? Of a real live human baby.

“I mean that we had sex and now she pregnat with my kid.” Charlie explained, his mother gave him a groan which he interpreted as some form of her telling him she was well aware of that part.

“How on earth could you let this happen?” Charlie could feel the anger rising in his mother's voice, his grip on the phone increasing anxiously until his knuckles were white. Charlie knew her anger came out of a place of love, a need for protection. She didn't want him to make her mistakes, which was so sweet, but too late. He and Dee had made the mistake and now had to own up and do the right thing. He hoped he was anyhow, “Didn’t I always tell you to use protection? Always! How could you be so stupid?”

Ouch. 

Charlie, though, brushed off the insult, to be fair he was pretty deserving of it, “Mom come on, i'm going to be a dad. You're going to be a grandma!”

“You're keeping it?” She questioned, she sounded absolutely terrified. He could practically see her eyes as wide as dinner plates sitting next to her landline in complete shock.

“Yes.”

“Charlie, babies are a big responsibility. Are you sure?”

“Mom, I want to do this. I love Dee and I love my kid.” Charlie heard his mother's breath hitch, for a beat of silence she just sat quietly on the other line, before her son added, “It's kinda too late now anyways.”

“What? Why?”

“Dee is too far along to...flush it out… and, I dunno, I want to make sure my son has a dad.”

“Charlie,” His mother's voice was sympathetic and soft, she clearly understood the emotions of an unwanted pregnancy becoming parenthood. He ached for one of his mother's comforting hugs, despite his newfound excitement, he was still petrified of his impending fatherhood. He just wanted his mom to tell him he was making the best decision for the little dudes welfare. “Wait, how far along is she?”

“Uh, twenty nine weeks I think?”

The line was silent. For a moment, he thought she had hung up, but no dial tone played. 

“Charles.” Uh oh. Anger was easily discernible from his mother’s low growl, not to mention the use of his real name. Charlie knew he shouldn't have waited until essentially the last moment to tell everyone, but better late than never, he supposed. 

“Folks” A masculine voice clicked on over the intercom, the speaker's cheap hiss boomed through the airport terminal, “Flight 182 to Philadelphia is boarding now.” 

Saved by the bell. Charlie could feel the oncoming lecture from his mother. Bonnie was far from strict but this was not like him being caught ditching or huffing glue, this was hiding this from his childs soon-to-be grandmother. Charlie looked at the bar, where his childs soon-to-be uncle Dennis was glaring at him, motioning with his hands to hurry it up. 

Didn't need to tell him twice. 

“Mom. I gotta go, my flights leaving.”

“Charles Peckham Kelly don't you dare hang up.” 

“I'll see you when I get home, I promise we can talk more about it.”

“Charles!”

“Bye Mom! Love you!”

“Charles!”

He threw the payphone back onto the hook, effectively ending him and his mother's conversation. At the very least, for now. He knew he was going to have a lot of questions to answer and a lot of explaining to do. But, honestly, it was worth it. Charlie felt a new feeling fill his chest, he felt almost confident, his body feeling light on his feet. As he walked back to Dennis he smiled at the man, who met his grin with a scowl. 

“What’s so nice Charlie?” Dennis’s inquisition apparent. Charlie refuses to allow his good mood to sour, he figured he needed it to smooth things over with his baby momma whom he had left stranded in the woods the day prior.

“Nothing.” He said, forcing himself to relax his face muscles. The urge to smile out of sheer relief pulled at his lips but he managed to keep it together in front of the younger twin. “Just called my mom.”

“Your mom?” Dennis clearly wasn’t expecting that, his eyebrows raised in a calculated but nonchalant way, giving off the appearance of a relaxed demeanor. Charlie knew better than to fall into this trap though, far too well fared with the twins' tricks to give in to this one.

“Yep!” He said, reaching over and spinning Dennis around to point the gate, his big hands holding onto the man by his broad shoulders. “C’mon Dennis we are going to be late!”

“Charlie,” Dennis tried to probe once more, giving him a low glare. Charlie, on the other hand, chose to ignore his poorly hidden growl, and pushed the both of them forward to the gate. Dennis complied as the two boarded the plane. But this event was not to be forgotten soon.

☼

A soft low knocking echoed through the quiet apartment. Dee, who was finally getting some sleep from having to be stranded in the woods and pregnant an entire day, was awoken by the sound. She sat up slowly, rubbing her head, her temples tingling in light pain. She shuffled slowly over to the door, only wearing her pajamas, a pink cotton tee and some underwear.

“Hello?” She hissed, opening the door to greet a disheveled but well dressed Charlie. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the hallway light, but when she was able to see the man standing before her, she rolled her eyes and started to reach to shut the door in his face. 

“Dee wait-“ Charlie said, shoving his body through the door opening and into Dee’s apartment. “Please just hear me out.”

Charlie scanned her face for any emotion but all he got back was a stone cold stare. She was obviously pretty pissed that he had just abandoned her like that, to go gamble too!

“Fine.”

Charlie sighed, a breath of relief giving his tense and nervous body a shake of momentary relaxation. He sat on the couch, and Dee followed, her arms crossed over her giant stomach to emphasize her anger.

“Dee, I've been wrong. I’ve been so wrong. I should have been there for you this entire time, but I Just kept running away from my problems- things that scared me. But I don’t want to run anymore.”

Dee’s eyes met his, seeing how his eyes pooled with emotion, and the glaze of impending tears sat in his eyes. Despite feeling overjoyed at those words, she didn’t want to allow herself to open up to him again unless she knew he wasn’t giving some empty apology.

“I-I even am going to tell everyone. I already told my mom.” Charlie reached over, grasping her hands in his. She didn’t object. “I’m ready to do this with you.”

“Charlie.” Her voice was vague, and Charlie was scared to see her reaction to his words. For a moment they stared into each other's eyes, both refusing to let their nerves get the best of them, refusing to tear their gaze away. “Kiss me.”

Didn’t have to tell him twice. 

Charlie used both hands to grab her face, aggressively putting his lips on hers. She tasted like honey and sugar and he couldn’t get enough. Nearly instantaneously she opened her mouth and reciprocated the kiss, Dee had been desperate for the man's touch since the last time the two were...left unsupervised. She wrapped her arms around his neck instinctively. She leaned back, propped up on a pillow she laid on her back with her legs apart; Charlie sat on the other side, now on his knees and fiddling with his belt. She was only in a tee shirt and underwear, making her somehow ever more alluring to him. Her breathing had picked up when he leaned in and kissed her again, grinning wide as he crouched over her like an apex predator above his prey. He liked her cheeky smile. It was such a wide, bright, toothy, charming grin. She looked smug, but infatuated at the same time and that only made him want her more. His hands managed to get his belt loose and Charlie pushed his pants down, and let them collect at his knees. 

Her hand splayed over his neck, slid up to his jaw, to the back of his head. Her touch sent shivers down his spine, straight to his groin. Charlie gave out a low groan, his head momentarily falling back. His fingers moved up her legs from his pants, traveling up her calves and thighs. Then, Charlie’s fingers hooked into the elastic of her underwear. Deftly, he slid it down her legs, and she lifted her hips to help him pull them off. Once she was free of them, he gently pushed her legs apart, feeling the constraints of his boxers becoming too much. She gave him another grin, but this time it was a proud smile; Dee liked the effect she had on him, always had, always will. He swooned, his belly fluttered, and his cock jerked, he couldn’t help but turn pink. Charlie urgently pushed down the elastic of his boxers, having them meet with the pool of pants around his legs. 

Charlie’s hands soon began to feel her changing body. Dee was nothing like he remembered, lanky and thin; she was now rounded and bigger. Her breast had gotten bigger by a couple sizes, and apparently sensitive as he heard her soflty yelp after one of his exploratory squeezes. Dee’s stomach was giant, taking up more space then he thought she even had on her. Honestly, at least to Charlie, she looked good. Pregnancy looked good on Dee, despite all the complications it brought. She was big because she was pregnant, and with his child nonetheless. Something about the thought of Dee, his sweet Dee, having his baby, caused his stomach to burn with desire. The need to have her was insatiable, and Charlie had to fulfill it. He leaned into her, a feminine moan erupting from his partner as he pushed himself even further in. She whispered a soft profanity as he began to move in tandem, his large hands holding her hips tightly. She pushed her body up, meeting him halfway, desperate for pleasure. 

It had been months since the either of them had had sex. That was normal for Charlie, who spent most of his nights alone, but not for Dee. Dee use to have sex with someone at least once a week, and when her in Charlie had been having their abrupt sexual affair in october, the two had sex pratically every day, or whenever the opportunity presented itself. She also had the unfortunate of gaining an even higher pregnancy sex drive. She was wound up every minute of every day, and it wasn’t like she could get a release, her vibrator wasn’t the same and guys weren’t particularly jumping to have sex with a pregnant chick. But now that Charlie, her baby's father, was here, she could finally release months of pent up energy. He rocked into her, a moan coming from the both of them as he gripped her doughier thighs in an attempt to get her even closer to him. Charlie leaned in between her thighs, his chest resting on her large stomach as he thrust into her again. Dee wrapped her legs around him, tightening them around him as her climax began building. She could feel Charlie swelling, and his increasing lowder lewd moans as he thrust inside her showed quite obviously he was about to meet her there. He pushed against her, his hands pushing against her hips as he became desperate for release, he felt more and more primal as he pounded into her, their hip bones hitting together. Charlie cried out, his body blooming up toward, releasing inside her. He trembled as he pulsed, and Dee soon followed after him, her inner muscles clamping down as her hips rolled and her eyes rolled back into her head momentarily.

Charlie huffed against the woman’s stomach as he became soft inside her. He pulled himself away from her, pulling himself out and tucking it back into his now pulled up boxers. 

“I can’t believe I let you do that twice.” Dee says from her position, still on her back with her legs propped up. Her eyes were now open, and he could see her icy blue gaze from in between her open legs. 

“What?” Charlie asked, pulling up his pants and zipping the fly, trying to clean himself up. It was no use though, the man's clothes had folds and wrinkles that wouldn’t come out by just smoothing over them, besides of it wasn’t for his disheveled appearance, the man reeked of sex. It was evident he was far too much of a mess to leave Dee’s apartment and for no one to be in the know, it was frankly too obvious. 

“Cum inside me.” She told him bluntly, reaching off the side of the couch onto the floor to pick up her discarded panties. Charlie felt his ears turn pink and he instinctively lowered his head in embarrassment. Not to say that didn’t happen, because it definitely did, it was just something he hadn't said out loud- ever. “That’s what kinda got us into this situation.”

Dee grunted as she tried to get the underwear back on herself, but the position she was in didn’t let her easily maneuver with her large belly. She reached out to Charlie, the panties now angrily balled up in her hands, “Put these on me, will you?” 

Charlie turned a deeper shade of pink, his face flushing with the color. He only could nod as he took the bunched up fabric from her. Now that he had drained all of the arousal out of him, he felt shy. She lifted her feet slightly and Charlie put one in each open hole of the underwear. He pulled it up her legs and she lifted her butt, similar to how she had helped him when he was taking them off just moments earlier. She finished the job of pulling the panties around her, the fabric now stretched out as it fitted her now large body. She mumbled a thank you, and got up, waddling to the bathroom to better clean up. Charlie was left alone with his thoughts. 

Soon however, Dee returned. Besides brushing her hair and pulling it back, she looked the same. She smiled at him as she sat down to his right. For a moment the two sat in a comfortable silence. 

“I’m glad you let me” Charlie butted in, breaking the tranquility and looking at her with big brown puppy dog eyes, full of genuine, heartfelt emotion. 

“Huh?” Was all Dee could respond, it wasn’t like Charlie had given her much substance to go off.

“That you… y’know…” His face was a dark pink hue, he tried to fight the embarrassment off, but his face showed too much of his emotion for him to do so effectively, “Let me… y’know…”

Dee then understood what he was saying, continuing the semblance of a conversation they had before she had gone to the bathroom to clean herself up and pee, she rolled her eyes at his bashfulness, instead stating bluntly once more “Cum inside me?” 

“Yeah.” He nodded, his cheeks still a light shade of pink. His eyes nervously met her eyes, a soft but very genuine smile filled his features. “I’m… I’m excited to have a baby with you.” 

The feeling those words gave Dee was incomprehensible for anyone who wasn’t her. Instantly after hearing those words her heart nearly erupted in her chest, to the point she momentarily thought she was about to have another heart attack. It wasn’t though, instead being the flooding feeling of love. It had been seven months of her practically facing this alone, he was there but not exactly in the way she needed him. But now, with his eyebrows pressed together in concern and his hand on her thigh, lightly gripping it, she wasn’t alone. If she didn’t have anyone, she still had him. Dee had never felt that kind of emotional security before, and goddamnit did it feel good. She had him, and he had her and they both had the baby, that was all that mattered.

“Y’know what, I am too.” She hummed, a smile similar to how Dee felt internally appeared on Charlie’s face. It was real and honest emotion, wholehearted excitement at the fact she felt the same way.

“I love you dee.” Charlie told her, a serious but bubbly look on his face. He meant it, she could feel it, the way he had said it with his entire chest and the way he looked at her like she was the only person in the entire world, it told her he wasn’t just saying it. The realization that Charlie, her Charlie Kelly, loved her, almost made her burst out crying on the spot. 

“I love you too Charlie.” She responded, her hand curling with his. He smiled, clearly mirroring her sentiment about how she felt when she heard him say that. He leaned in and planted a loving, emotional, and slobbery kiss on her lips. Dee had a hard time caring about the saliva, her brain too hazy with the feeling of love to give his spit on her lips a second thought. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder as he squeezed her hand in his. 

Charlie placed a hand on her belly, his eyes full of emotion and genuine love. He rubbed a tiny circle against the skin, after he pushed Dee’s t-shirt up over her bump. “And we love you too Charlie junior.”

“Oh my god. Absolutely not.” Dee laughed, Charlie’s hand remaining on her as her body slightly shook at her laughing. He felt her vocal cords vibrate against his shoulder. 

“C’mon.” He smiles, his hand rubbing in a circle again, trying to make up for lost time, he wanted to memorize how her bump before she popped. Now that he knew he was dedicated to this he never wanted to forget how it felt to be that close to his child before they came into the world, “You love it.”

“No, I absolutely do not.” Dee gave a hearty laugh, playfully swatting him. He knew she held more malice, a bright smile on her face. Charlie hadn’t seen that smile in a long time, it was her authentic smile when she was genuinely happy. A feeling of pride filled his chest, he had made her happy, actually happy.

“Whatever, it will grow on you.” He pressed his face into her hair, smelling the sweat mixed with her cheap strawberry conditioner. 

She just rolled her eyes, “I’m sure it will..” 

Charlie’s hand moved under her chin, pushing her head up gently before giving her a short kiss. Dee smiled against his lips. Charlie then got up from the couch, and passed Dee a fuzzy throw blanket she had resting on the back of her couch. He unfolded it and cast it over Dee, warming her body up. He wordlessly walked out of the small living room, opening up the fridge and grabbing a beer. Coming back he sat back down next to her, placing the beer on her coffee table. He began working on untying his dress shoes, trying to become more relaxed. Dee was still jealous that she didn’t get to drink, and normally to resist temptation someone would get rid of all the alcohol in their house. She would have too, but she kept it just in case Charlie came back. For a while she felt embarrassed at how desperate for his affection had become, but as he took off both shoes and took another swing of the beer, looking at her with a goofy grin, she was happy she kept the beer. It was hard for her to not drink, but she hadn’t had a drop since she found out she was pregnant; and she was definitely going to brag about that next time she saw Dennis drinking during the day. 

Dee was broken out of her thoughts by Charlie getting under the blanket next to her, wrapping his arms awkwardly around her, trying to cuddle with her. She couldn’t help but smile, adjusting to try to make it more comfortable. It was hard with her large baby bump on the small couch but they made do. He kissed her gently, his lips tasting like beer, the first taste of it she had in seven months. She didn’t let it take over her thoughts however, wanting to continue enjoying the intimacy. 

They pulled apart, and he smiled at her. He gave her another soft and delicate kiss, no sexual motive behind it, just a kiss from a man who loved her. Who cherished her and their child.

She could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im thinking of making a sequel to this about the gang interacting with the baby, idk yet


End file.
